He may have been dumped from the air during a bizarre interview with Alan Jones this month, but Australians have oft-wondered why the radio shock jock has never been fired for his controversial comments, which have included “ableist” and “homophobic” rants.
Sandilands and co-host Jackie O were inducted into the Commercial Radio Hall of Fame at the ACRAs (Australian Commercial Radio Awards) in Sydney last night, were Sandilands addressed the question on everyone’s lips.
“What no one knows is that when Jeff Allis hired me… He said to me, ‘There’s a lot of people here that are really good at their job and there’s a lot of 9-5 people just punching their time card,’” Sandilands said during his acceptance speech. “And he said, ‘Between you and I, just fucking do anything you want and I will be your get out of jail free card!’
Sandilands took full advantage of the offer, he admitted.
“So I took full advantage, as a lot of you would be aware,” he said. “A lot of management were like, ‘How the fuck did he not get fired 4000 times?’ Jeff Allis saved me every time.”
Jackie O took the opportunity to thank ex-husband ‘Ugly Phil’ O’Neil for “the opportunities that you’ve given me and for showing me the passion and the need for hard work in radio”.
She also thanked Sandilands, her co-host of 22 years, saying: “He is my ride or die. I know what you’re gonna say before you even say it. We laugh, we cry … but you’ve always supported me and I am just so grateful that you have been the one by my side throughout this. If you ride off a cliff, I’ll ride off it with you.”
