Note: this story contains graphic content.
Foxtel CEO Patrick Delany has gone into damage control over an image of him performing a Nazi salute, meeting with a Jewish community group and apologising in an all-staff email.
Jewish and diversity groups have criticised the former Fox Sports CEO’s gesture as “deeply concerning” and an example of “toxic workplace behaviours”.
On Sunday night, Delany sent an email to Foxtel staff apologising for the gesture that he made in the mid 2010s, largely reiterating the statement he gave to Crikey in response to our initial reporting on the leaked image.
“I am very sorry for my actions and sincerely apologise to people who have been hurt or offended, especially members of the Jewish community,” he wrote.
“The picture is completely inconsistent with my values and beliefs, and family connections.”
On Monday afternoon, Delany met with the president of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies David Ossip, who told the ABC Delany had apologised for performing a Nazi salute.
“We accept Patrick’s apology and recognise his and [News Corp chair] Lachlan Murdoch’s strong and unequivocal repudiation of antisemitism in the past 10 months,” Ossip told the Nine newspapers.
“Patrick made clear that, regardless of the context in which the salute was performed, he understood the offence and hurt that the gesture causes Jewish Australians and the many Australians whose family members were killed or injured fighting the Nazis during World War II.”
This meeting came as another group representing the Jewish community, as well as media diversity group, expressed concern that this kind of behaviour has been prevalent in the industry.
Media Diversity Australia CEO Mariam Veiszadeh told Crikey that this image shows that Australian media isn’t doing a good job of holding itself to account.
“This news comes at a time when many inside and outside of Australian media are holding up a critical mirror to the industry, calling out toxic workplace behaviours which seem to have been flourishing for decades,” she said in a statement.
Veiszadah said the revelation that there are “skeletons in the closets of all key players” shows why her organisation continues to advocate for improvement across the sector on issues like racism, sexism and cultural safety.
The Jewish Council of Australia’s executive officer Sarah Schwartz condemned Delany’s salute as “deeply concerning”.
“Equally [concerning] is that he operates in a media industry where he felt this was somehow okay. It shouldn’t need to be said that the salute is an offensive and violent act not only for Jews, but also for other racialised groups,” she said in an emailed statement.
Schwartz said the image showed how forms of bigotry are “all too accepted” in society, including in the media.
“That the same person can sign a pledge to ‘say no to antisemitism’ and also feel comfortable doing a Nazi salute just goes to show that we need more than superficial pledges,” she said.
The NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, who Delany said he has approached for a meeting, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
On Sunday, Delany told Crikey that the image was “shocking” and suggested that the image captured him “demonstrating the similarity” between a Nazi salute and a gesture performed by fans of A-League team Western Sydney Wanderers during a chant.
