★★★★★ 0/5

Damage control a disaster for The Wiggles

Richard Wilkins' interview with The Wiggles generated an instant buzz after Anthony Field was ill-prepared for the scrutiny.

54
Leave a comment

How could they have got it so wrong?

For all the squillions The Wiggles have accrued you would think somebody would have given them better advice before fronting the Today show yesterday.

Anthony Field’s deer-in-headlights answer to Richard Wilkins’ questions about the exit of Sam Moran was TV gold.

Wilkins’ interview generated an instant buzz after Field was ill-prepared for the scrutiny.

“What about Sam? Sam was…. what do you mean?” Field asked awkwardly.

“What Sam does now is Sam’s thing. His contract has come to an end.

“I have nothing to do with really, Richard. Sam was doing a job.

“Yes it was news to him. I haven’t spoken to him so I don’t know (how he took it).

“I don’t want to speak for the guy … I don’t know how he feels.”

The Wiggles were doing the rounds yesterday. On Sunrise the chat wasn’t much better.

Field also told The Circle the Today interview had caught him by surprise and had been expecting to sing songs (seriously?).

But he again conceded Sam Moran didn’t know he was going to be leaving the group.

“No….Sam was an employee of ours. Like a musical theatre performer he was playing a role,” he said.

“They were going back and forth. Sam has lawyers…. we were keeping out of that.”

As a branding exercise for a children’s entertainment troupe, yesterday was a disaster. Now the pressure will be on to land a tell-all interview with Moran.

Meanwhile the Herald Sun says Greg Page won’t be a shareholder in the group, after leaving with $20m when he exited five years ago.

Anthony Field, Jeff Fatt and Murray Cook each own 30 per cent of the band and the remaining 10 per cent is split  between the band’s managing director, Mike Conway, and its creative manager, Paul Field (brother of Anthony).

There is also speculation Moran was called in by management on Tuesday and terminated with a $60,000 payout.

First blunder for 2012: The Wiggles.

54 Responses

  2. As horrible as all of this has been handled, I would doubt Sam will make a fuss, if he hangs in there one of them will drop soon enough and they’ll need him again. If you look at earlier interviews, after Sam had joined, Anthony comments then about Sam not being Greg, the dynamic changing, not as much improv. I don’t think Anthony ever liked Sam, he wanted his original band back and that was that.

  3. The other Wiggles would have what, 2-3 years of touring left in them… with Jeff and Murray pushing 60. They will all need replacing very soon, and I thought that’s why Sam was bought in to start a new generation… bizarre move by the group, and it seems to have backfired spectacularly.

  4. I think this is going to get big and end the wiggles. @people defending his pay. The Wiggles rake in millions and by all accounts Sam is the one that has carried the group for the last 5 years while the others seem to have topped caring and are just there for the money. The 200k salary and 60k payout would be an insult to Sam I think it exposes a lot of greed from the others if they didn’t want to give him a raise.

  5. @Ed, LMAO!! Nice one!

    Yep, I agree with the consensus here that the sacking of Sam was handled atrociously. Fair Work Australia is beckoning him with an Unfair Dismissal suit. I hope he takes them to the cleaners, as the $60,000 severance pay he got, considering the bottomless money pit that is The Wiggles, is pathetic and insulting.

  6. Providing his contract just ended and he wasn’t sacked, the Wiggles have’nt done anything wrong. The problem is that it has come across a bit to clinical and ruthless. The upside is that Sam has been given a huge platform. He will be able to make his own millions travelling around the country performing to the young ones. To them he will always be Sam from the Wiggles, so good luck to him.

  7. I think it was bad timing to make the announcement on the same day of Sam Moran’s daughters second birthday. He would have been bombarded my interview requests on a day that should be about spending time with family and friends. I wonder if it was deliberate. Spiteful?
    I agree that Sam probably asked for a better contract and now the lawyers are involved.
    Also, where was Murray in all these interviews?

  8. well there you go, that’s all blown the “we’re all great mates persona”, it’s not like Sam was sacked from Woolies or something, they lived together how many months of the year touring, Sam deserved better than kicked out with not even a sorry mate.
    Yuk.
    this has put me off the wiggles, I knew they were human underneath all that but still.. yuk, not people I want my kids to look up to, I’m sure they care about mt whinge though as they sing to the bank.
    Very disappointing.
    Re Craig- …groan… lol

  10. Jeez out smarted by Richard Wilkins….that really is bad form….These old blokes look tired and seedy…time to renew and refresh, there will still be monet to be made….but if they carry on, it is only a matter of time before one of them keels over on stage…

  11. Why didn’t they just make Sam the “green” Wiggle?

    Still the rumoured $200,000 a year and a $60,000 pay-out isn’t that bad for someone who was simply required to entertain children. Sure, it’s small change given the huge revenue of the Wiggles “brand”, but he wasn’t a founding member.

  13. The worst part is that the interview on The Project. Some 9 hours later, still just as unprepared and deer-in-headlights.

    Sam is the winner in all this awkwardness, he’s getting a lot of sympathy. DWTS anyone?

  14. Don’t see what the fuss is about except for the public having the impression that the wiggles are just 4 great guys that sing kids songs and not a multi million dollar business. What next? Is someone going to say that
    reality tv isn’t real?

  15. That’s business Sam. Most long term employees would dream of getting a $60,000 handshake. What makes Sam’s position any different to those working in the private or public sector? Still…It’s a damn unfortunate situation for Sam especially when you do everything asked of you by your employer. Keep the keys to the Big Red Car Sam.

  16. Got to see this when making breakfast for the kids and it was one of the most uncomfortable interviews I had seen in a while. Absolute gold!

    One of the looks off camera (for help?) was hilarious.
    Can’t believe they did went in so unprepared like that.

  17. I watched this interview live, and my wife and I also couldn’t believe Anthony’s lack of preparation for the questions. How could they have not thought these questions would be asked?! I do believe that the group (naively so) thought they were just there to show off Greg and sing a couple of songs – Greg did, after all, have his guitar with him.

    The end result, particularly when Anthony admitted that none of them had even spoken to Sam directly, demonstrated to me that there is something more to the story, and that lawyers are involved.

    As you said, David, it was TV gold.

  18. Unfair dismissal anyone? I know he may have been on a contract and just an “employee” but surely they could have given him better than a $60k payout. And I don’t believe Greg just got a call “out of the blue” to come join the band again like he said in interviews yesterday. Anthony is the main power in the group, he is the one who had the Wiggles idea in the first place so no matter how much distance he wants to put himself away from the internal dealings of the company, I’m sure he had a big role in getting rid of Sam. My thoughts are that Sam rightfully was asking for a better contract and the powers ended up shafting him.

  20. What the boys have forgotten is that parents connected with Sam, he is in his thirties like most parents these days, & the yellow wiggle is the main role in the group, he talks & sings the most. To treat him the way they have is disgraceful, could this be their tiger woods moment, when all the skeletons start coming out of the closet???

  24. Yep Wiggles Inc have put themselves on the list of “Worst Handled Sackings” The sad comment is that nobody from the orignal team has spoken to Sam, what a disgrace. Then after helping the Wiggles Enterprise earn around $140million dollars over the last 5 years, they reward Sam’s effort with a $60,000 hand-shake, what a bunch of losers, I hope they choke on their hot potato. The Wiggles have definitely done wrong by Sam. I guess the main thing here is that anyone thinking of working for the Wiggles better make sure they are just not another commodity in their franchise.

  25. Seriously the wiggles need to sack whichever PR firm is looking after them. think it was the Eck factor as on Twitter they posted a comment from Anthony clarifying his remarks.
    Why didn’t they brief him properly? Keep everything short and sweet and just thank Sam for the work he’s doing and move on to the next question.
    For Anthony to think he wouldn’t be asked such a question is naivety on his part and that of his PR team.

Leave a Reply