Complaint to Nova about Hitler comment

Nova 100 recently got themselves into a bit of warm water after xmas fill-in breakfast hosts, Tommy Little and Dani Venn, talked about celebs they thought would be interesting to invite to dinner, one guest suggested was Adolf Hitler.

This led to some complaints to the ADC (Anti-Defamation Commission), “Apparently jocular comments were made that table conversation might include asking why he killed so many people.”

The ADC’s Executive Director Geoffrey Zygier wrote to dmg Melbourne GM Helen Davies and said:

“The ADC is not suggesting that these comments were necessarily made with ill intent. However, more than 50 million people perished in World War II … Many of these people are Australians whose descendants do not find this a matter to joke about, but rather offensive and hurtful. I kindly request that this perspective be brought to the presenters’ attention and that they be advised to be more careful in regard to listeners’ sensibilities.”

Davies (pictured) said that discussing Hitler in the segment was “ill considered and the resulting comments lacked finesse. In hindsight, different dinner guest options could have been used.”

The station have spoken to both presenters and behind the scenes support team to help them learn from this incident.

ADC chairman Dvir Abramovich said the incident was low on the scale of offensiveness…

“Nova recognised the complaint as having merit, gave considerable thought to the potential effects on customer relations and used this situation as an educational opportunity for its staff.

“I believe this is a win-win result that demonstrates the importance of making our voice heard."

This is not the first time using Hitler in radio content has led to complaints. In August last year triple j found themselves in a similar situation – see that story here.

Read the original article here.