entertainment

This is why women don't want to cover sport.

Erin Molan

 

 

 

UPDATE 22/8:

Erin Molan has spoken publicly for the first time after leaving the Kyle & Jackie O Show on air, following a sexist Q&A segment.

Speaking at the start of Thursday night’s episode of the Footy Show (on which she is a regular) Molan said: To every young woman out there and every person out there, you determine your worth and if you feel you’re ever in a situation where you are not being treated with respect or the way you are being treated is not acceptable to you then you have every right to walk away and every right to stand up for yourself.”

Molan ceased her association with the controversial radio program after she was quizzed about a possible breast augmentation and how many sportsmen she had slept with.

Mamamia previously reported…

Kyle and Jackie O know controversy. Scandal is their MO.

So, that’s probably why they asked a 26-year-old journalist how many cricketers she’d slept with and called her family a bunch of coke-heads. They must have known it was inappropriate. RIGHT?

Channel Nine presenter Erin Molan (who presents on The Footy Show) has been appearing in a regular segment on the Kyle and Jackie O show called “Let’s Get To Know Erin”. It’s a friendly chat about sport and stuff.

But on the 8th August, Erin decided it would be her last time on the show. She was ambushed with a series of deeply inappropriate questions from the presenters and from callers. She was asked whether or not she’d had a ‘boob job’ live on air and without warning. She was quizzed on her sex life. And she was told (by Kyle, obviously) that “nobody was listening” to what she had to say about sport on The Footy Show.

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This woman is a professional journalist. Female sports presenters are rare. By undermining her credibility and implying she sleeps with the sports people she interviews, Kyle just proved exactly why women don’t want to cover sport: This sexist crap.

For her part, Erin handled herself graciously but assertively.

Kyle and Jackie O

When asked about breast surgery, she said: “I’m going to take the fifth on that one and say, ‘You know what, I’m happy with my rig the way it is’”.

When she was asked how many cricketers and sports players she had “been with” she refused the question because her mother was listening, and so were her siblings, who she said are a lawyer, a teacher, and a pilot.

“They’re probably all coke-heads,” responded Kyle, for no discernible reason whatsoever.

“Stop,” said Jackie O. “I think she’s been grilled enough already.”

And it turns out, she had. Erin wrapped up the segment by saying: “And as this will be my final week, I’d like to say thank you so much for having me.”

Kyle and Jackie O objected and Erin simply said: “I can’t, will I be subjected to this every week? Because my mum listens every week.”

A lot of people listen every week — both to this radio show and to Erin Molan when she’s reporting on TV. As Jackie finally said to Kyle… Just stop.