The problem with Karl

There was a time very recently when it seemed impossible that anyone could generate a bigger media feeding frenzy than Kyle Sandilands. And then Karl Stefanovic came along with a hold my beer moment for the ages.

Fresh from his official exit from Nine’s Today Show and the scandal surrounding his recent podcast interview with British far right activist Tommy Robinson, Stefanovic will return to the ARN airwaves this week.

After stepping aside from last Friday’s edition of The Long Weekend, Stefanovic will be back alongside co-host Eddie McGuire, speaking exclusively about what’s been described as the most tumultuous few days of his career.

Addressing the situation at the start of Friday’s show, McGuire explained that Stefanovic had finished his suite of podcast interviews in London and was now on vacation.

With brand safety front of mind and MFW waiting in the wings, for ARN, the flow-on effect of having Stefanovic as part of its on-air talent line-up remains to be seen.

So where exactly does Stefanovic’s independent podcast sit terms of controversy?

On the Game Changers Radio podcast, lawyer Michael Byrnes took issue with the chummy nature of Stefanovic’s interview with Robinson.

Byrnes suggested that Stefanovic perhaps didn’t realise the gravity of the situation.

“Maybe he just thought ‘I’m interviewing someone who is controversial.’ And he’s been doing that in recent times. He’s been leaning into that. Maverick Karl. Iconoclast Karl. Going off the reservation a bit. And it some ways it dovetails into the public perception of him that he can be a bit loose at times in a way that people like. He’s not constrained.”

But Byrnes says Robinson is in a different category altogether.

“This is someone who even the Far Right political figures in the UK distance themselves from.”

Byrnes says the big concern was that Robinson was given an unfettered, unimpeded platform for his views.

“Tommy Robinson wasn’t grilled in any way.”

“At the very least, it creates the impression of a tacit endorsement, not only of the views, but of Tommy Robinson himself.”

Also discussing the fallout, MaximComms Founder Steve Carey told the ABC:

“Karl knows that controversy makes the best kind of engagement.”

To which veteran radio host Justin Smith commented that Stefanovic’s interview with Robinson was about as edgy as a round sponge:

“It’s not that KS interviewed this convicted criminal, it’s that he interviewed him so poorly,” Smith said. “It was terryfingly embarrassing journalism, getting passed off as edgy.”

Whilst Matt Johnson, co-founder and host of the Two Doting Dads podcast likened ARN to a mate who keeps dating walking red flags.

Johnson took to LinkedIn, suggesting that if ARN had thought it was getting the larrikin next door, it was sadly mistaken.

“They finally get out of the Kyle Sandilands relationship … only to jump straight into a long-term commitment with Karl Stefanovic.”

“Can someone please take ARN’s phone away and tell them to stay single for a while?”

This article itself proves that Stefanovic is a hot talking point across all the media platforms. He is most certainly generating levels of publicity that cash-strapped media outlets like ARN and Channel Nine would not – and could not – buy.

But for whoever said there is no such thing as bad publicity: this most certainly is a hold my beer moment.

Stefanovic’s last free-to-air platform The Long Weekend is still in its infancy, but from the outside looking in, the current controversy has touched everything and everybody with whom he is associated.

The ripple effect for Eddie and ARN would be manageable. But this is a tsunami.      

Image supplied by ARN.