Sky News’ Laura Jayes and Collingwood major sponsor Holden are the latest voices to join the chorus against Eddie McGuire over his recent comments about drowning The Age‘s lead football writer Caroline Wilson.
Offering a non-apology a week later after Sydney writer Erin Riley brought media attention to his comments via a blog post, few were buying it, with triple j’s Alyx Dyson and Channel Ten’s Jessica Rowe calling him out yesterday before the news that Holden were potentially reconsidering their sponsorship of his AFL club Collingwood.
Reportedly “hugely unhappy” with McGuire and his comments, the car manufacturer are seeking a meeting with the club to discuss the future of their sponsorship. Currently, a second-tier or platinum sponsor of Collingwood, Holden’s sponsorship is believed to be worth more than $3 million annually and is one of the biggest club sponsorship deals in Australian sport, and the prospect of losing that is sure to threaten McGuire’s position with the club.
“Holden categorically disapproves of Eddie McGuire’s inappropriate comments, along with those of his co-hosts,” Holden spokesperson Sean Poppitt said, adding that “Holden is engaging with Collingwood to express our disappointment personally and discuss the future of our sponsorship.”
Both the club and car maker are reportedly desperately trying to arrange a meeting between Collingwood chief executive Gary Pert and Holden boss Mark Bernhard, who are both overseas, with the Collingwood board censuring McGuire on Monday night.
“The very clear view of the board of Collingwood is that there is no place in our community for the support of violent behavior or language, even in humor,” it said in a statement.
McGuire for his part has made it clear he has no intention of vacating his post as president of the club, as well as insisting his comments were “playful banter” and that he doesn’t “see it as being in any way shape or form sexist”.
Despite his history of bigoted comments McGuire remains one of the most visible figures in Australia, something Sky News’ Laura Jayes called into question when she called him out for his history of bigotry on her show The Latest yesterday.
“When you are as powerful as he, when you have the profile he enjoys and the media platform to have significant influence, he needs to be held to a higher standard,” she explained.
“The bullying and intimidation of a female journalist in a male-dominated arena being fobbed off as a bit of ‘banter’ is the most offensive part of it all.
“Whether Eddie likes it or not, he has a special responsibility. He clearly sees it as his job to be controversial and entertaining. The sad truth is he’s supported by a Praetorian guard of enablers who pay lip service to such incidents, but only when shamed into doing so.”
Articulating what many of us have been thinking, she asked multi-million dollar question the Australian media needs to answer: “Why do we give voice to idiots and nutjobs?”
Watch the segment here for yourselves below.
