Australian radio host Kyle Sandilands has been sacked and his long-running breakfast programme, The Kyle and Jackie O Show, cancelled after a breakdown in relations with co-host Jackie 'O' Henderson. The Australian Radio Network (ARN) confirmed on Wednesday that it had issued a notice of termination of contract to Sandilands and his company, Quasar Media, over what it described as 'serious misconduct'.
The decision follows an on-air argument last month in which Sandilands accused Henderson of being 'off with the fairies' and said her interest in horoscopes made her 'almost unworkable'. The dispute occurred while the duo were discussing the arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, and Henderson said she wanted to look up his horoscope. Henderson later stated she 'cannot continue to work with Mr Kyle Sandilands'.
ARN said Sandilands had been given 14 days to remedy the breach or cease presenting, but the deadline ended at midnight on Tuesday. Sandilands rejected the termination, saying: 'I don't accept it. My lawyers told them last week this would be invalid.' He described the incident as a routine on-air disagreement, adding: 'Jackie and I had a blue on air. That's it. The kind of thing we've done a hundred times in 25 years.'
Sandilands claimed he apologised to Henderson via text, writing he was 'sorry for anything I said that didn't go down well', but a source said Henderson responded that Sandilands had 'crossed a line'. Sandilands accused ARN of escalating the dispute unnecessarily, saying the network 'decided to try and burn the place down' and 'didn't want to fix this'. He argued his contract runs until 2034 and that ARN had not honoured it.
Henderson denied quitting, saying the news came as a 'shock' and that she did not resign. She said she is addressing the matter through legal avenues. The show, which first aired in 2004, had dominated breakfast radio ratings in Sydney and was syndicated across the KIIS network.
