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Chooka tantrum blown “way out of proportion”

AGT pianist Chooka Parker says a tantrum incident was blown way out of proportion and host Grant Denyer had only “got two per cent of the story right”.

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Yesterday media were all agog at Australia’s Got Talent contestant Chooka Parker throwing a “massive tantrum” backstage after being eliminated from the show.

Both Sunrise and The Morning Show covered the story, with their websites claiming “Chooka Throws Massive Tantrum” and “Chooka Loses His Head.” Other media followed suit.

AGT host Grant Denyer, who admitted he hadn’t seen the outburst, told Sunrise, “When he was voted off, backstage in the hallway he wrapped a jumper around his hand and started punching into the walls and windows of the production offices which scared a lot of the staff around there and there were small children …there at the time,” he said.

There was a fleeting reference to “other problems.”

“At the end of the day violence is never the answer to any solution or situation.”

But yesterday Parker told The Courier the claims were completely false, although he did admit to knocking on the window of the producers. He said the incident was blown way out of proportion and Denyer had only “got two per cent of the story right”.

He said the producers edited his final performance.

“The producers took out a crucial part of my song. They pretty much destroyed my piece,” he said.

“I went backstage to ask them why they did it but they wouldn’t listen to me. I just hit the window, I definitely didn’t wrap my hand in a jumper and smash it.

“You’ve got to hear my music from start to end. By changing it they made it sound as if I had made a mistake.”

The country pianist has proven enormously popular with audiences, with his self-taught talent at odds with his  farm upbringing.

At just 17 years old he is unlikely to be seasoned in the tough world of Reality competitions. Indeed, a Seven spokeswoman even told the Courier Mail, “Chooka’s family have acquired a TV since he became part of the show and he has understood how the show and fame works since he started.”

Yesterday he also told Today Tonight he was upset that segments of his performance had been edited down.

“I was a bit disappointed that I didn’t get through. I was not overly worried or anything, and I was not angry at the judges or nothing – that’s just something I’d like to emphasise. Kyle and Brian, I was not upset at you at all,” he said.

Seven defended the edit claiming his performance ran over the allocated time afforded to all contestants.

34 Responses

  1. @CraigN what an assumption to make. You must be choking on your words now. Chooka is performing all around regional areas in Australia, and repeating his compositions from his brand new CD, No Worries.
    Chooka is talented beyond comprehension, particularly to narrow minded people like you! No Worries!

  2. Dear Mr Knox, thank you so much for clarifying whose side you were on in this article, I had felt strongly that you mentioned the ‘incident’ too much and could have just given it much less weight before you got onto the other sideof it.

    I am particularly pleased about the mention of how sensationalism is used against people and how you distance yourself from the tabloids. I must now apologise to you for coming on so strong, but I have read many stories about that incident in the past few days, and having now met Chooka and his family I know they really are.

    I understand the rules and etiquette of post and nowhere did I use capitals in my posts to shout, although you probably read my post as a shout in your head. I did put a title that was moderated in capitals only to draw attention to the fact that I wished to amend as one cant delete the post after its submitted and before its approved. 🙂 Ditto for the repeat posts, which the moderator can sort out. 🙂

    I do thank you for replying in the way you did – now the unthinking mindless consumers of negative press will hopefully understand better that it was indeed blown out of proportion.

    Thank you!

    1. Well I’m glad we sorted that out. Over almost 5 years of running this independent site I have frequently defended reality contestants, especially minors, in situations like this, and called networks to account. But as a journalist you have to assume a reader is unfamiliar with the background so it was necessary to draw upon some of what had been claimed in order to debunk it. If you look at the headline on the story you can see I was clearly on the side of the individual, not the way the story had been travelling. I thought The Courier explained his position well. Most of the industry read my site so those who don’t read the regional newspaper of The Courier would have learned a lot more via me giving it some extra oxygen. You had me worried with the emotion of your comments so I am pleased you have now understood. Thanks.

  3. Amendment: I dont think so Mr Knox, repeating such drivel to the extent that you did in this article is not defending but validating and perpetuating sensationalist rubbish!

    1. What? It was Grant Denyer’s stupid comments on Sunrise that I specifically addressed by quoting Chooka’s denials to a regional newspaper. I didn’t like the way he was being treated with the Seven bandwagon and I looked around for his comments to give the other side of the story. I see Reality contestants being edited and sensationalised all the time and we rarely hear their viewpoints.

      I appreciate you are a fan of his improvising as many viewers were but you are seriously mistaken if you are throwing me in with the tabloids. Would you make the same claims of The Courier?

      If you wish to have your comments approved here you must abide by Comments Policy like everybody else which is no SHOUTING and it isn’t necessary to submit the same comment. They all get approved once they have passed moderation.

  4. As a fan of Chooka Parker and an advocate for the meek, I demand that an apology be given to Mr Parker from Mr Denyer, the 7 Network, and all the other newspapers, websites and blogs who have participated in this slander either within their articles or in the titles of those articles!

  5. Dear armchair critics – stop talking unless you know what you are talking About!
    Dear people who dont like Chooka – you dont have to like him, that fine! None of us are worried about what you like or dont like, we probably dont like your kind of music.
    Dear David Knox – what most concerns me here is this pseudo journalistic piece of crap article!
    1. Did you have to mention the title “Chooka loses
    his head’? – har har hardy har – chicken, chopping block, off with its head – I get it! 2. The media were agog at a young man’s ‘massive tantrum’. Well the media are always agog at anything negative and if its not negative they will fabricate ‘facts’ just to sell the story. ‘Massive tantrum’ is in quotes, we know what that usually means – the media creating another moral panic about no good youth running amok! This was probably done because Chooka didn’t react in a big way, he’s been brought up in a way that is different to most of us, and he know how to be polite even in the face of lies!
    3. Why did you even have to repeat the rubbish that came out of Denyers mouth, who spouted attention seeking drivel and admitted in the same breath that he didnt See the supposed outburst – make believe, profit making story about ‘scared staff’ and “small children…there at the time”. I have written almost 90 essays myself, I know what the ellipses are for!
    4. “There was a fleeting reference to ‘other problems’ ” – indeed there is another problem, this example of journalism at its shittiest, truly a problem for the more critical of us who actually use our brains to think, not just consume the rubbish kind of soft journalism that pervades most of the media these days.

  6. Judge Dred–check out James Carroll Booker III–the man was a total genius and able to play anything whether adding to the Minute Waltz by Chopin or playing some of the lowest gut-bucket blues. Known for his medleys, which could go from Bach to the Beatles to Rachmaninoff within seconds, he never had a playlist. By 6, he was teaching his teachers. Oh yes, and he could play any piece backwards. So wake-up and get off of your high horse…yes, I have been a Professor of Theatre Arts since 22 and a Department Chair at the University of San Diego in my late twenties, but I have never, ever heard a student or well-known pianist able to to perform as Chooka does…living in Southern California has afforded me the opportuniity to see many including Van Cliburn, Liberace, Ramsey Lewis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Fats Domino, Elton John,, Allen Toussaint, etc., etc.

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