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David Koch, music critic.

Updated: After he criticised a performance by Ringo Starr, David Koch was told by Ben Harper he needed to "clean out your ears, man."

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kochieThere are just some times when David Koch reminds you more of an embarrassing uncle at a family 21st than a television presenter.

This week he criticised Ringo Starr’s performance with Paul McCartney at a New York benefit.

Ben Harper and his new band Relentless 7 had just finished performing a song on Wednesday when Koch remarked that he didn’t think Starr “sounded very good” when he joined McCartney on his signature hit With A Little Help From My Friends. According to news.com.au, Harper, who also played at the Radio City Music Hall charity show, was taken aback by the comment.

“You need to clean out your ears, man,” Harper said before backing away from Koch and Mel Doyle. Later that day, Harper and his bandmates told the Daily Telegraph’s music editor Kathy McCabe they were not impressed when Koch compounded his offence by saying that Starr “sounded better as Thomas The Tank Engine“.

“I know what I wanted to tell him but I figured I would do it in a better way and tell him he needed to get his ears cleaned out and then stand as far away (as possible) from him,” he said.

Viewers reported that Harper looked “wild-eyed and angry” when Seven crossed back to the studio after an ad break.

Source: news.com.au

29 Responses

  3. And this is why you watch the Today Show.

    At least on Nine’s morning show there isn’t some bald idiot who thinks he’s an expert on the economic crisis, and some blonde bimbo who laughs like Elmo!

  4. We all knew he was a massive tool but now we can see he’s a square as well. Dissing one quarter of the most popular band on earth is not a smart thing to do especially as he was doing it for charity. But I can see how an uptight moron like Kochie would dislike what The Beatles stood for.

    And I can see why Ben Harper wanted to slap the stupid out of him!

  5. In reply to Matt, Harper was simply expressing his opinion, just like Koch was. Plus, the way Harper was talking he has a very deep respect for Starr and sees him as a hero or a mentor, so it’s perfectly reasonable for him to get defensive.

  9. As a regular Sunrise viewer, I’m well aware of Kochie’s penchant for putting his foot in his mouth, but I really can’t see any problem with this. I mean, come on, Kochie expressed an opinion. If he’d got his facts wrong (as he has done before), I’d be more than happy to jump on and bash the guy. But all the guy’s done is express an opinion, and Ben Harper has chosen to act like a child over it.

    Seriously Ben, get over yourself.

  12. Everyone should get over themselves,i didn’t even see it but i know enough of David Koch to know that he is just like a naughty little boy at times and at least he is straight up albeit very annoying at times.
    This is all part of the charm and chemistry the Sunrise crew seem to emit above the Nine alternative.

  14. “drowls over the sound of music for goodness sake”

    I wish I knew what ‘drowl’ meant. I don’t know if your dissing The Sound of Music, or dissing Koch for dissing The Sound of Music.

    Dissing Ringo Starr can be forgiven, but dissing The Sound of Music is an unforgivable sin.

  16. plus if john lennon were around and heard that he would not have held back on koch. What does he know about music anyway he drowls over the sound of music for goodness sake!

  18. no wonder why harper was angry, you perform at a charity event and you get criticised. when David koch was one the finance special on seven a few months back i was surprised at what a great job he did and how much he new about what he was talking about, it seems he just dumbs him self down for sunrise.

  19. I know Koch can say a lot of ‘Uncle Arthur’ things, but I don’t really see what all the fuss is about here. So he didn’t like Ringo Starr singing live, is that meant to be some kind of atrocity? Sounds like Ben Harper needs to get over himself.

  20. who care about what he thinks. he is an absolute nob. he complained about not being nominated for a gold logie as well. sunrise has gone fron being a great show to tripe. thanks to him

  23. Koch = dork. The presenters are all so lowest-common denominator on that show. The whole show is such a cliche of pandering to the McMansion set of try-hards who are desperately trying to act 14 instead of 40. They are human vacuums, and so are their viewers. Whatever Kochie and Mel tell them is the next big thing, they believe it, and that’s a pretty sad indictment on Australia.

  24. Koch can be specific when it comes to finance but is embarrassingly vague when it comes to most other subjects or he is trying to hide his age by saying things that he thinks will go down well with younger audiences. I agree that he is more like an embarrassing uncle than a presenter. I feel sorry for Mel as well as 9am’s Kim for putting up with the other embarrassing uncle, David. Kudos to Larry and Kylie for being a genuinely good Morning Show duo.

  25. Ol’ Kochie says a lot of ‘weird’ things, which is putting it politely. He’s become something of a sea-anchor for Sunrise.

    A few weeks back he blurted out that he couldn’t understand why Australians would object to state censorship of the Internet. This is the same guy who admonished the Chinese for same during the Olympics. The poor industry expert he’d brought in to talk to nearly choked on their coffees.

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