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“We didn’t check ‘Is it ok to say it?'”

Joh Griggs & Basil Zempilas may not have checked with management before unloading, but they got the backing from them later.

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Johanna Griggs and Basil Zempilas did not check with Seven management before they unloaded on the Commonwealth Games host broadcaster NEP Australia, but have the backing of the CEO and Chairman.

Speaking this morning on 6PR, Zempilas was asked by showbiz commentator Peter Ford at what point did they realise something needed to be said?

“Halfway through the speeches,” Zempilas said. “People couldn’t see at home, the athletes were streaming out. They’d had enough and the crowd was streaming out. By the time we had the Sisters concert -which went on too long as well as the speeches which were far too long- there was nobody left in the stadium.

“We knew at that stage something needed to be said,” he continued.

“We didn’t check ‘Is it ok to say it?’ but down the line to the Producer we said ‘Look, we’re thinking of saying something like this.’ And nobody said back to us ‘Don’t say it,’ so we said it.”

Griggs was also gauging the furore on social media but it was evident at Carrara Stadium the event was a misfire.

“The people we were judging it by were the athletes, and the people in the crowd,” Zempilas continued. “They had all left and that told us something was badly wrong with the ceremony.

“On the night we had a wrap party and I saw both Tim Worner and Kerry Stokes who’d been briefed on what we said. And they both congratulated us for saying what we said.

“They said ‘It needed to be said and we’re glad you said it, and you said it well.'”

Seven maintains it was not aware vision supplied would exclude athletes partying on the ground as is traditional for a Closing Ceremony, despite attending a media briefing the day before.

Photo: Twitter

4 Responses

  1. I did not see this commentary but as an observation such candidness by two contract employees of Channel 7 does fit into the growing egocentricity more often seen on Reality TV and also within the general media in recent years,this type of social discourse is best seen in America with a potential news reporter with a smart phone at every corner and self made celebrities created every minute on social media.

  2. Being a fellow Perth boy, when it was announced Basil was taking more of a role in the Sunrise team I was hoping he would score points. With this, both he and Joh have racked up heaps. Sure, hosts shouldn’t go off script too often but this was completely justified.

  3. I’m glad they got backed in by management, been a long time since such refreshing honesty on TV, one of the few rare times watching FTA and saying to myself “did that just happen” – perhaps the last time was the Merlin and the Big Brother episode, not often I pick up the phone and start texting people to “quick switch this on”

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