Marty Sheargold and broadcaster Triple M parted ways back in February after the comedian had an outburst on women playing sport.
The comments related to The Matilda’s soccer team, and player Sam Kerr and her wife. Just a day after the comments went to air Sheargold announced he was stepping down. He’s also stopped appearing on the TV series Have You Been Paying Attention?.
Now the broadcasting watch dog has handed down it’s findings on the incident ruling that Triple M and three sister stations breached the Commercial Radio Code of Practice by broadcasting sexist content.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority ruled the comments were sexist, expressed in a demeaning and sarcastic tone, demonstrated a level of contempt and disdain for women’s sport, and more generally of women.
Authority Member Carolyn Lidgerwood said the demeaning and insulting language used by the host went beyond generally acceptable standards of decency.
“Sexist comments like this don’t belong in Australian broadcasting. Even if the comments were an extremely ill-judged attempt at humour, a reasonable listener would have found them offensive and to have crossed the line,” Lidgerwood said.
The ACMA is currently considering enforcement action against the licensees for breaching the code and will publicly announce the outcome once it is finalised.
