ARN has come out in support of Kyle Sandilands after he made headlines for calling monkeypox, “Big gay disease!”
An ARN spokesperson has told B&T, “Regular ‘Kyle & Jackie O Show’ listeners know that Kyle is a fierce supporter of the LGBTQI+ community, and this jibing is part of his relationship with Brooklyn.
“Kyle is renowned for his colourful vernacular. We appreciate that those unaccustomed to his expressions may consider the content opinionated, and the range of topics discussed on the show is not to everyone’s taste.”
News.com.au reported that on-air Sandilands described Monkeypox as “the big gay disease floating around!” He then joked that he wouldn’t let his newborn son near his producer, Brooklyn Ross.
Naturally, Sandilands comments were slammed, and people on the internet were even asking for him to be fired.
While Sandiland’s comments were completely factually incorrect, it’s worth noting that Sandilands was a huge ALLY when it came to the Gay Marriage Plebiscite.
At the height of the debate in 2017, he had a caller ring up his radio show that was against gay marriage, reasoning that he didn’t think gay couples should have children.
According to SMH, Sandilands responded and said: “You’re a filthy homophobe pretending to masquerade as someone speaking on behalf of kids.”
Sandilands ultimately hung up on him and said, “Go away, you peasant.”
Sandilands also became an international hero when he called out a sexist guest and kicked him off his show.
None of this, of course, is in defence of his Monkeypox comments, but it is worth having some context.