Jackie ‘O’ Henderson and Kyle Sandilands have both reportedly engaged lawyers in the latest escalation since the shock suspension of their popular radio show last week.
ARN, the parent company of the Kyle & Jackie O Show, announced last Tuesday that the KIIS FM program had been pulled from the air “effective immediately” after Henderson resigned and gave notice that she “cannot continue to work with Mr Sandilands”.
For his part, Sandilands was given 14 days to “remedy his breach” or “cease to present” the Kyle & Jackie O Show, following an on-air spat between the co-hosts over astrology the week prior.
In the fallout, a bunch of media personalities and radio insiders shared their thoughts, with Henderson officially responding to the news while mentioning “legal channels” in a statement shared over the weekend.
In a message issued by her manager Gemma O’Neil, Henderson said “there has been a lot of speculation and misinformation about my departure from the show”.
“I want to make one important point very clear: I did not quit or resign. I am deeply saddened by the events of the past week and the possibility of the show ending. This has come as a shock to me, as it has to everyone else,” she said.
Henderson pushed back against the “truly heartbreaking” “media narrative” about her departure, but said she couldn’t discuss anything further given the legal situation.
“At this stage, I am unable to say anything further, as I am addressing this through the appropriate legal channels,” Henderson said.
While the exact legal steps Henderson is taking are not known, a source close to the host claimed “stuff behind the scenes” had caused her to “hit breaking point”.
“This isn’t all on Kyle, it’s on ARN as they have encouraged this behaviour from him towards her to get ratings,” an anonymous friend of Henderson’s told the Daily Telegraph.
“They have four censors in place to block segments which shouldn’t go to air and she is saying that they should have blocked it while he was having a go at her that day.”
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Henderson may have taken issue with ARN’s abrupt cancellation of her multi-million dollar, ten-year contract for the show, but insiders speculate that the contract would be voided if it stipulated she must co-host the program Sandilands.
“If you’re contracted to deliver the Kyle & Jackie O Show, and you come to ARN and say, ‘I can’t work with Kyle’, then you can’t deliver on your contract. Why would she think she’s still entitled to her $10 million a year?” an anonymous KIIS insider told SMH.
The exact terms of the contract, signed in 2023, have not been disclosed, but ARN is also thought to be the subject of a reported lawsuit being prepared by Sandilands, according to The Age.
The outlet heard from anonymous ARN sources who claimed Sandilands, currently serving his 14-day suspension, will not take the show’s cancellation “lying down”.
“Kyle will definitely sue,” the source claimed. “The agreement with ARN acknowledges the type of performer Kyle is: that he’s robust and a maverick-type character, and that’s something ARN has traded on for many years and gotten a lot of success out of.”
“[The agreement] also makes it clear that anything that goes to air is ARN’s responsibility because they’ve got two full-time censors [operating on] a 30-second delay, so they’re OK-ing every piece of content that goes to air,” the source added.
The insiders said ARN is still interested in placing Henderson somewhere else in the network, as mentioned in its original statement.
Sandilands, meanwhile, has two weeks to remedy the situation, which was ignited when he accused Henderson live on-air of being “off with the fairies” and “unworkable” over her interest in star signs.
The Kyle & Jackie O Show is also suspended for the duration of that 14-day period.
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