Can ARN justify terminating a contract over the very persona it paid Kyle Sandilands to deliver?
‘Kyle was engaged by ARN to do The Kyle And Jackie O Show on the premise that Kyle is controversial, provocative, a maverick.’
Radio shock jock Kyle Sandilands’ shock exit from ARN has raised a central legal question: can a network terminate a contract over behaviour it hired — and profited from — for years?
The high-profile axing followed weeks of turmoil at KIIS FM, sparked by an on-air clash with long-time co-host Jackie O Henderson that ultimately led to the collapse of the show.
With a legal battle looming, lawyers are already questioning whether ARN can justify the decision.
Entertainment lawyer Sean Miller told Sunrise on Wednesday the case may hinge on that fundamental contradiction in Sandilands’ role and whether he is now being punished for behaviour he was effectively hired to deliver.
“Kyle was engaged by ARN to do The Kyle And Jackie O Show on the premise that Kyle is controversial, provocative, a maverick. And that’s exactly what Kyle did,” Miller said.
“Now ARN are saying, ‘Well, Kyle’s overstepped the mark.’ Yet this is what Kyle’s been doing for years and years so I don’t think what Kyle has done … is a hanging offence.”
However, Miller said the situation is complicated by Henderson’s reported refusal to continue working with Sandilands, which could ultimately strengthen ARN’s case.
“Even though Kyle was engaged on the premise to be controversial and provocative, he was also engaged to do The Kyle And Jackie O Show,” he said.
“Once Jackie O said, ‘I can’t work with Kyle’, then the premise of the show, which is that the two of them worked together, collapsed. The commercial value together is worth a lot more than the two of them as individuals.”
The dispute is now expected to move into the courts, with Sandilands already indicating he intends to challenge the termination.
“To the people who tune in every morning … you didn’t get a say in this. Neither did I,” he said.
“But my lawyers will. I’m not done. Not by a long way.”
The case is expected to play out publicly, with Miller comparing the breakdown of one of Australia’s most successful radio partnerships to a high-profile marriage split.
“The Kyle and Jackie O partnership was essentially a marriage of convenience,” he said.
“I think it’s going to be very spicy.
“Kyle, he’s not backwards and coming forward so I think this is really going to blow up in the media and be an ongoing story.”
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