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Andrew Bolt apologises after victim slams SKY News interview

Andrew Bolt apologises after victim says interview comments "make me sick."

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Andrew Bolt has apologised to Paris Street, the victim of grooming by a sports coach at St Kevin’s College, who was the subject of a recent Four Corners investigation.

Earlier this week Bolt took aim at the ABC story. But advocates of child sex abuse survivors slammed him for appearing to defend convicted child sex offender Peter Kehoe during a segment about the St Kevin’s College scandal.

“[He] hit on a boy, no sex occurred,” Bolt had said.

Bolt also asked “how terrible was it really” that headmaster Stephen Russell wrote a character reference for Kehoe after his conviction.

Gerard Henderson responded: “Well not at all, it was a terrible pile on against St Kevin’s, within the ABC tradition of attacking mainly Catholic institutions”.

But an open letter published by Paris Street criticised the discussion.

“Please, both of you, build some common decency and human courtesy into what is required in relation to sexual abuse,” Street said on Facebook. “Especially if you are to make public comments about it.

“Gerard Henderson and Andrew Bolt, how would you feel if someone acted the way Peter Kehoe did towards me, towards children of your own? Would your comments be any different?”

“Reflect on the comments you have made and never make them again in the future. They make me sick.”

Bolt has now said he regretted the way he discussed the case and words he used.

“I should have thought of Paris Street, the boy, how he might have heard it,” he said.

“I’m really sorry to you Paris, I’m really sorry … I should have thought about how you would take it. I regret it, I’ve spent every hour since thinking about it. I hate what happened”.

He added, “You might have noticed that I was really angry yesterday about the way my comments on the ABC’s stories about St Kevin’s had been misreported, I even saw headlines today like ‘the offender defender’, when of course I hadn’t done that.

“I used the phrase he had ‘hit on’ this boy, that (he) had been obviously sentenced for grooming, and a lot of people took that, particularly people who I’ve criticised before in the media, took this opportunity to say ‘you’re soft on paedophiles and you’re excusing this-and-that’ and I was so angry and so disappointed thinking I should have phrased it better and shouldn’t have used the term ‘hitting on’”.

President of advocacy group the Blue Knot Foundation Cathy Kezelman also said Bolt and Henderson were “minimising” the crime.

“Grooming is a crime … The impacts are so profound and longstanding. To minimise something that steals a child’s innocence and in some cases, sadly, a child’s life due to suicide is just indefensible,” she told SBS News on Wednesday.

“[Mr Bolt and Mr Henderson] are completely irresponsible, they are uninformed and their ignorance is destructive to the social fabric of the country.”

On Wednesday, the principal of St Kevin’s College, Stephen Russell, resigned after Four Corners revealed he had provided a character reference for Kehoe during sentencing.

If you or someone you know is impacted by sexual assault, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit 1800RESPECT.org.au. In an emergency, call 000.

Anyone seeking information or support relating to sexual abuse can also contact Bravehearts on 1800 272 831 or Blue Knot on 1300 657 380.

6 Responses

  1. Andrew Bolt is really a clever guy, I’m not sure that there are many long term career journalists / columnists who have survived in their field for so long by making a career of offending someone, somewhere at sometime, mostly writing as the defender of common sense conservative ideals and countering dangerous leftist babble, as he may possibly put it.
    Anyone easily offended by political incorrectness should just give his show a miss as I doubt he will be shown the door by Foxtel or the various newspapers he contributes to.

  3. Wow! I actually watched the interview! I recommend that people don’t comment on hearsay!
    Bolt apologised for not putting the feelings of the male victim before anything else, but in no way condoned the behaviour of the predator.

  4. I was absolutely floored by what Bolt & Henderson had to say. I understand that they are on a low viewing pay show and so need to be controversial to garner attention, but this was quite extraordinary. And then my heart broke when I read Paris Street’s post. How brave he is, I trust he has good support around him to get him through this time.
    Commentators need to remember that their words have consequences – these are real people with lives that must go on once the immediate glare of the spotlight has moved onto the next travesty/topic/disaster. They also need to remember that the ABC is not the enemy, these were journalists doing a hard but needed job to bring this story to light.
    The news needs to stop being this Left V Right shambles and focus on what is actually right and the people it effects.

  5. I didn’t see the interview but his apology would explain in part his very careful navigation last night with a couple of female guests discussing the terrible tragedy in Queensland with the three children and their mother. I get my heart rate up too high if I tune in to Bolt and Henderson’s weekly chat as the latter is endlessly bagging ABC and especially Media Watch, but hypocritically goes on Insiders semi regularly and I assume accepts a payment for the appearance.

    I find Bolt a fascinating talent to watch. He can be an interesting point of difference opinion wise but also gets himself into knots and is endlessly a climate change denier. It is curious to see him defend conservatives, no matter what.

    But this is pretty inexcusable. At least he apologised.

  6. Public figures like Andrew Bolt shouldn’t be allowed to get away with apologies each time they speak out of turn. One faux pas is an mistake, but doing it over & over shows an inability to learn from those mistakes and lack of respect for the audience.

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