Kyle Sandilands has victory lunch with John Ibrahim, John Singleton

The day after Kyle Sandilands told an industry podcast that he was courting wealthy backers for his new media venture, the shock jock was seen lunching with multimillionaire businessman John Singleton and Sydney nightclub mogul John Ibrahim at CBD steakhouse Grill Americano.

The trio were joined by John Singleton Group chief executive David Norris, and were photographed by a paparazzo shaking hands outside Grill Americano, the first lavish Sydney power diner from Melbourne restaurant kingpin Chris Lucas, famed for its tableside tiramisu and $285 steaks.

Sandilands settled his lawsuit against KISS FM-owner ARN for $12 million on Wednesday, and on Thursday he told to the Game Changers podcast that billionaires he didn’t know “came out of the woodwork asking to meet me after this termination, when they heard I was starting something up,” he said.

“I’ve still got more lunches and everything tomorrow with potential investors.”

Sandilands and Ibrahim, a former nightclub owner dubbed “King of the Cross”, are old friends. Ibrahim served as a groomsman at the broadcaster’s 2023 wedding. Sandilands also had an interest in some of Ibrahim’s old Kings Cross establishments, the Piano Room and the Trademark Hotel.

Singleton, the 84-year-old advertising entrepreneur, has long had media interests. He held a share of Macquarie Media, the former owner of 2GB, before selling it in 2019 to Nine (the owner of this masthead).

Sandilands was forced off air in early March, weeks after berating his co-host Jackie “O” Henderson to the point where she allegedly refused to work with him. He was then sacked for what the station claimed was gross misconduct. Sandilands sued the company for $85 million, claiming that his behaviour was exactly what he was employed to deliver, and not grounds for dismissal.

To mark the end of that legal battle, Sandilands sat down for an hour-long podcast, released on Friday morning, in which he accused top-rating talkback radio host Ben Fordham of being a fair-weather friend.

Sandilands claimed that Fordham had let him down by publicly casting doubt on the value of his show and the durability of his partnership with Jackie “O” Henderson after he was taken off air.

He said that Fordham had then texted him and asked to invite him onto his show on 2GB, which was formerly owned by Nine, along with this masthead. “I said, ‘No, you’ve been a c— about it. F— you’,” Sandilands told the Game Changers podcast.

“And [Fordham] writes, ‘Oh, don’t be a sook.’ And I was like, ‘You want a slap? Like, watch your mouth.’ Like, I don’t put up with his bullshit. And some people will … I’ll slap … I’ll slap him. I don’t give a shit if he’s mouthy, like he just deserves a slap.”

On Friday morning, Fordham denied Sandilands had threatened to slap him, and accused the shock jock of harbouring “aggressive fantasies”.

“I finished the message by saying ‘toughen the f— up’, and he didn’t write back. Sorry to spoil your fantasy, Kyle.”

A defiant Sandilands also discussed his relationship with Henderson, his sacking by ARN, and a growing affinity with Pauline Hanson’s One Nation.

Sandilands insisted that his relationship with Henderson was improved, and that the pair had been texting back and forth throughout their period off air.

“We’re not not friends,” he said.

“Just so everyone knows, we’ve texted each other multiple times, multiple times backwards and forwards. Behind all of our lawyers’ backs, behind our managers’ backs.

“I will always adore and love her, and my door is always open.”

At a court hearing in March, Henderson’s lawyers said they did not want to put their client in the same “enclosed space” as Sandilands, who “she says has caused a significant psychological harm”.

Sandilands’ $12 million settlement was significantly lower than the $85 million he initially sought. But the radio host said he had “put ego aside” by accepting ARN’s settlement offer, having already spent more than $1 million in legal fees on the matter.

“I can’t let an ego thing get in the way of what the family really needs,” he said.

“So I just put that aside and I thought, you know what, I’ll take the miserable amount that they’re offering.”

This masthead revealed on Friday that in April, a month after he parted ways with ARN, Sandilands took out a mortgage on his unsold Glenorie property, allowing him to borrow another $2 million at an interest rate of up to 30 per cent.

He said that he had felt financial pressure when he was off air, but he was supported by his bankers and reassured by his manager.

“I could not have been more surprised and thrilled and thankful to the team at the NAB, who were – almost felt like they were the SES,” he said.

“They said, ‘Whatever you need to help you guys, and we can help you unwind or change or pause things’, and I felt like a cuddle from them, which I was not expecting from a bank,” he said.

Sandilands also revealed that he has spoken to One Nation leader Pauline Hanson and helped spread her message, though the party has rejected claims that the one-time KIIS star has been working with it in a formal capacity.

“I’ve taken Pauline to meet some folks that she didn’t know … more of the upper society, the upper society types, who have also expressed a great interest in, you know, her messaging,” he said.

He said he was “loving the orange wave”.

One Nation chief of staff James Ashby said that Sandilands was a good person who Hanson believed had been mistreated.

“I know Pauline reached out when shit hit the fan. She’s got a lot of time for him and wanted to make sure he was fine,” Ashby told this masthead. “I think he’s a legend.”

But, Ashby said, Sandilands was “not working for One Nation”, including in any formal or informal capacity.

“Not at all,” he said.

“[Sandilands] deserves to be back on air,” Ashby said.

“I have no doubt Pauline will go on his show, the boss won’t shy away from that,” Ashby said.

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