Stefanovic takes aim at TV’s ‘beige’ hosts after Nine departure

Karl Stefanovic has rounded on his former industry for promoting “beige” broadcasters after Nine and radio company ARN ousted him following a string of incidents culminating in a controversial interview with British extreme-right activist Tommy Robinson.

The former Today show host received the backing of broadcaster Piers Morgan, who has also largely abandoned the mainstream media for podcasting, in an hour-long interview released on Wednesday where the British commentator accused Nine of “cancel culture” and failing to “stand up to the mob”.

“By the end of this week, Australia will be completely united behind you,” Morgan said.

In the podcast, released on Wednesday evening but recorded in the French resort town of Cannes last week, Stefanovic said that free-to-air TV networks had promoted “beige” personalities out of fear of backlash from advertisers, even as he praised several former colleagues by name.

“The product’s becoming so beige because they’re so worried about blowback from advertisers, or whoever this mob is, that you end up on air with beige personalities,” he said. Stefanovic also said he had worked with great people, and called his former co-host Sarah Abo one of his “dearest friends”.

Stefanovic, the former host of Nine’s Today show, left the network last Friday days after releasing an hour-long interview with Robinson, which his team quickly removed from most platforms.

In it, Stefanovic praised Robinson’s “courage” and “tenacity”, and told the anti-Islam agitator, who has a long list of criminal convictions and has been curtailed from visiting Australia, that he loved him. Stefanovic also put his arm around Robinson in a promotional video.

The Robinson interview was the final straw for Nine executives, who had grown increasingly frustrated with Stefanovic’s independent podcast, launched in January, which featured numerous soft interviews with figures from the populist right.

He had come under fire from the Mad F—ing Witches, an activist group that pursues companies running ads on shows that feature material or people it perceives to be at odds with the group’s values.

After days of crisis talks, Nine, the owner of this masthead, cut a deal to axe Stefanovic midway through a one-year contract reportedly worth about $2 million. Stefanovic responded by releasing a video saying he was “free, truly independent” to produce his podcast.

During his interview with Morgan, Stefanovic said he had told Nine two or three months ago that he was set to depart at the end of the year.

“I’m all about freedom of speech, and I think it is legitimately a part of the story in Great Britain,” Stefanovic said of his interview with Robinson. “It’s my style, it’s my show, and I want to feature guys like Tommy Robinson because I just want to find out what it is about them, you know.”

Nine sources had described the network’s issue as being about Stefanovic’s praise of Robinson and softball approach, rather than the decision to interview the British rabble-rouser. Stefanovic said his biggest regret in the saga was losing the opportunity to say farewell to his audience.

“That bond for me with real Australian people is something you know that I don’t take for granted, it’s a great privilege, and it really is a great honour, and I just, I don’t want to lose that.”

The interview was released hours after news broke that Stefanovic was set to lose his weekly show on radio network Gold.

Stefanovic and Eddie McGuire, the veteran media figure and former president of Collingwood Football Club, launched The Long Weekend last month, with a focus on news, sport and entertainment. The pair hosted just two episodes together before Stefanovic was dumped.

Gold’s owner ARN declined to comment. Stefanovic was approached for comment. Nine was contacted for comment.

Morgan, a British TV personality, left UK breakfast show Good Morning Britain following uproar over comments he made about Meghan, Duchess of Sussex. He has since had success with an independent YouTube show, Piers Morgan Uncensored.

Morgan told Stefanovic he believed he could match his own global success.

“The only one stopping you from becoming a global irritant, Karl, is yourself,” he said.

Stefanovic did not appear on last Friday’s episode of Long Weekend following the furore over his interview with Robinson and departure from the television network, and is not expected to return, according to industry sources, with ARN making a business decision to move on from Stefanovic.

McGuire will continue hosting a similar show with ARN, although the finer details of its post-Stefanovic future are still being determined. The radio company had previously faced an activist campaign by the Mad F—ing Witches group targeting Sandilands.

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