Updated ,first published
Controversial broadcaster Kyle Sandilands has criticised top-rating talkback radio host Ben Fordham as a fair-weather friend as he unveiled plans for a new online-only show.
One day after Sandilands settled his lawsuit against KIIS FM-owner ARN, the broadcaster told an industry podcast that Fordham had let him down by publicly casting doubt on the value of his show and the durability of his partnership with Jackie “O” Henderson after he was taken off-air.
He said that Fordham had then texted him and asked to invite him onto his show on 2GB, which was formerly owned by Nine, along with this masthead. “I said, ‘No, you’ve been a c— about it. F— you’,” Sandilands told the Game Changers podcast.
“And [Fordham] writes, ‘Oh, don’t be a sook.’ And I was like, ‘You want a slap? Like, watch your mouth.’ Like, I don’t put up with his bullshit. And some people will … I’ll slap … I’ll slap him, I don’t give a shit if he’s mouthy, like he just deserves a slap.”
On Friday morning, Fordham denied Sandilands had threatened to slap him, and accused the shock jock of harbouring “aggressive fantasies”.
“I finished the message by saying ‘toughen the f— up’, and he didn’t write back. Sorry to spoil your fantasy, Kyle.”
Sandilands was forced off-air in early March, weeks after berating his co-host Jackie “O” Henderson to the point where she allegedly refused to work with him. He was then sacked for what the station claimed was gross misconduct. Sandilands sued the company for $85 million, claiming that his behaviour was exactly what he was employed to deliver, and not grounds for dismissal.
He said that he now plans to host an online, subscriber-only show, and that if only 10 per cent of his former listeners took out a subscription for $13 a month, he could have a business taking in $20 million a year. “Billionaires”, he claimed, were interested in investing.
In the hour-long podcast, released on Friday morning, a defiant Sandilands discussed his relationship with Henderson, his sacking by ARN, and a growing affinity with Pauline Hanson’s One Nation.
Sandilands insisted that his relationship with Henderson was improved, and that the pair had been texting back and forth throughout their period off-air.
“We’re not not friends,” he said.
“Just so everyone knows, we’ve texted each other multiple times, multiple times backwards and forwards. Behind all of our lawyers’ backs, behind our managers’ backs,” Sandilands claimed.
“I will always adore and love her, and my door is always open,” he insisted.
At a court hearing in March, Henderson’s lawyers said they did not want to put their client in the same “enclosed space” as Sandilands, who “she says has caused a significant psychological harm”.
Sandilands’ $12 million settlement was significantly lower than the $85 million he initially asked for. But the radio host said he had “put ego aside” by accepting ARN’s settlement offer, having already spent more than $1 million in legal fees on the matter.
“I can’t let an ego thing get in the way of what the family really needs,” he said.
“So I just put that aside and I thought, you know what, I’ll take the miserable amount that they’re offering.”
This masthead revealed on Friday that in April, a month after he parted ways with ARN, Sandilands took out a mortgage on his unsold Glenorie property, allowing him to borrow another $2 million at an interest rate of up to 30 per cent.
He said that he had felt financial pressure when he was off-air, but he was supported by his bankers and reassured by his manager.
“I could not have been more surprised and thrilled and thankful to the team at the NAB, who were – almost felt like they were the SES,” he said.
“They said, ‘Whatever you need to help you guys, and we can help you unwind or change or pause things’, and I felt like a cuddle from them, which I was not expecting from a bank,” he said.
Sandilands also revealed that he has spoken to One Nation leader Pauline Hanson and helped spread her message, though the party has rejected claims that the one-time KIIS star has been working with it in a formal capacity.
“I’ve been working on getting their messaging across, which I think has been well received,” Sandilands said. He said that he had introduced Hanson to some of his wealthy friends, who were interested in her policies, and declared that he was “loving the orange wave”.
One Nation chief of staff James Ashby said that Sandilands was a good person who Hanson believed had been mistreated.
“I know Pauline reached out when shit hit the fan. She’s got a lot of time for him and wanted to make sure he was fine,” Ashby told this masthead. “I think he’s a legend.”
But, Ashby said, Sandilands was “not working for One Nation”, including in any formal or informal capacity.
“Not at all,” he said.
“[Sandilands] deserves to be back on air,” Ashby said.
“I have no doubt Pauline will go on his show, the boss won’t shy away from that,” Ashby said.
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Nick Bonyhady is the business editor of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. He is a former deputy federal editor, technology editor and industrial relations reporter.Connect via X or email.
Kishor Napier-Raman is a senior business writer for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. Previously he worked as a CBD columnist and reporter in the federal parliamentary press gallery.Connect via X or email.
