Sunrise suspends Howard Sattler
Perth radio host Howard Sattler has been suspended by Sunrise following his personal questions to Julia Gillard on his radio show.
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Perth radio host Howard Sattler has been suspended by Sunrise following his personal questions to Julia Gillard on his radio show.
Sattler quizzed the Prime Minister on the sexuality of her partner, Tim Mathieson.
“But you hear it, ‘he must be gay, he’s a hairdresser,'” he asked.
“I mean Howard, I don’t know if every silly thing that gets said is going to be repeated to me now,” Gillard replied.
“To all the hairdressers out there, including the men who are listening, I don’t think in life one can actually look at a whole profession full of different human beings and say ‘gee we know something about every one of those human beings’.”
6PR management apologised to Julia Gillard and suspended Sattler.
Sattler has also made regular appearances on Sunrise.
Seven told TV Tonight, “He is suspended by Sunrise too, in line with his radio management’s decision. We will be saying this on air this morning.”
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47 Responses
I’m late to this story and I wish I hadn’t heard it at all. This would be despicable, appalling behaviour from any sentient creature, let alone one with access to a microphone and an audience. Words fail me.
jesicka309. I work in the media and know that it was Perth TV news that filmed her interview, not one of her people, so get your facts straight before you speak.
I’ve never understood how ‘shock jocks’ stay on the air as long as they do. They eventually tend to offend just about everyone, so who’s left listening???
I’m not a fan of the PM, but i’m on her side in this case. Sattler has been around too long and dinosaurs like him need to be moved out of the media altogether. Suspension is just not enough.
I think questioning anyones sexuality is bullshit whether they be the PM’s defacto or the girl at the corner shop. He was obviously making the inference to say that Tim would have lesser value as a man if he is gay. What a grub Sattler is.
Sunrise are a bit hypocritical on this. They stand Sattler down but keep Alan Jones on after his terrible comments regarding the PMs father and all the Ju Liar stuff. I am a regular Sunrise viewer but after all this I am looking forward to giving Adam bolands new show a go. Bring it on.
Jesicka- that’s outrageous to say that she “reacts” while “male politicians shrug”. Explain how she reacted? I suppose she arranged to have it said to her? Your attitude is the reason why there is this problem with sexism
@Jonno, I hate to say this but I totally agree with you – Australia has proven beyond any shadow of doubt that they cannot handle a woman in the top job. Just listen to talkback radio for the amount of hatred directed toward the PM by both shock jocks and their listeners. It regularly makes my hair stand on end.
@Secret Squirrel – too right the PM has been bagged and pilloried relentlessly because she is female. Fair enough attack her policies or her government’s performance, but too much of the criticism directed against her has been snide and personal and it happens daily, obsessively, by shock jocks and other commentators. In my living memory of leaders, which is from about 1972 till now, I do not recall any male PM copping the amount of personal disdain, scorn and vitriol that Julia Gillard has copped. Not even in the ballpark of the stuff she’s had to cope with.
@The Moops and jonno- my thoughts also.
Next this guy will probably win an industry award for top AM radio DJ…
@The Moops – exactly. Regardless of your politics, the amount of vitriol directed at our PM is just astonishing and I think it’s pretty clear that a lot of it is simply because she is a woman. There is absolutely no way a worm like Sattler would have asked about the sexual persuasion of a male PM’s wife.
For those on the east coast, Sattler is a grubbier weasely version of Alan Jones.
Politics aside, the constant vitriol Gillard has had to deal with in recent times has proven that her point about sexism. The way she handled herself proved that whether you like her or not, she seems a respectful and very diplomatic person
Political opinion is irrelevant in this case. He was completely out of line. However if it was Triple J, there’d be calls for the whole station to be shut down.
It doesn’t matter if you don’t like the PM. You simply don’t do this.
Sunrise lead with the story today about how shocking this is, but the man has been a commentator with the network for years. Oh the double standards are astonishing.
Of course Howard could roll the clock back to 1971-72 and poke around there, couldn’t he?
I despair with the Australian media – so many issues to discuss with the PM and he decides this is the most pressing matter of the moment.
Stunt. Sounds eerily similar to her misogyny rant that went viral. “Woe is me, look how much I’m picked on!”
The reason she receives this sort of criticism, where other politicians don’t is because a) she reacts, where male politicians shrug and take it as part of the job and b) she wants the attention. Why else have a film crew taping a radio interview?
Sure, Sattler was wrong to say those things, and is rightly suspended, but I’d probably be more outraged if he said them to someone who doesn’t deliberately go out trying to stir up the media.
What a gutless wonder he is. He would never have the courage to say that to a bloke. I am sure there are rumours about nearly every politician on the web so why pick on her. If she gets beaten at the election, we will have to look back and admit that Australia was not ready for a female PM. How sad.
He is a nutcase – on what planet did he think questioning the sexuality of the Prime Ministers partner was acceptable?!
Shocking, incredibly ill-judged and disgraceful. Suspension does not go far enough, he should be sacked outright. However, it is typical of the vitriol poured on Gillard day after day by right-wing shock jocks. Did he give any thought to how Tim would feel about this pathetic stereotyping? How Tim’s daughter would feel having her father spoken about this way? Newsflash – there are plenty of straight male hairdressers. I thought the PM showed remarkable restraint in how she dealt with him. The attacks on her by shock jocks since the day she took the job have been unrelenting. A male PM would never, repeat never, be pilloried and criticised the way she has been. Would Sattler have asked similar questions of Tony Abbott and his wife and the status of their relationship? No, of course not.
He is a vile man who deserves to never be on air again.Sunrise again.I hope Seven never put him on
This rumour has never been substantiated so why ask it.
Uggh! Another die hard liberal letting his mouth run rampant. Disrespectful on so many levels.
But just watch, there will be those that will defend this, like they did with John Laws.
What a stupid, stupid thing for Sattler to say. On the broader picture, I wonder if a male prime minister would have the same remarks about his wife being a lesbian if she worked as lets say a mechanic?
How dumb are these people?
Good.