Jackie ‘O’ Henderson has today moved to shut down reports she quit her lucrative KIIS FM breakfast show, releasing a statement late this afternoon insisting she “did not quit or resign.”
The developments come after KIIS FM owner ARN extraordinarily told the ASX earlier this week that Henderson had advised the company she could not continue working with co host Kyle Sandilands.
That disclosure triggered days of headlines suggesting that she had quit and the long running breakfast partnership had come to an abrupt end, fuelling speculation about the future of the show and the network’s biggest radio asset.
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The pair signed a landmark 10 year contract with ARN in 2023 reportedly worth around $200 million.
In her statement, Henderson pushed back on that narrative, making clear she had not resigned from the program.
“I want to make one important point very clear: I did not quit or resign.”
Henderson also suggested the way events have been portrayed publicly does not reflect what actually happened behind the scenes.
“The current media narrative does not reflect what actually occurred.”
However, the disagreement appears to centre on how the situation has been characterised.
Kyle Sandilands and Jackie ‘O’ Henderson built one of the biggest brands in Australian radio. After this week’s extraordinary fallout, the question is whether the duo can ever reconcile (image – Instagram / Stellar)
In its ASX announcement, ARN said Henderson had advised the company she could not continue working with Sandilands, effectively leaving the network unable to proceed with the existing arrangement.
The filing also revealed the network had launched an investigation into Sandilands’ conduct, later determining his actions amounted to serious misconduct following a controversial on air segment that prompted internal scrutiny.
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Despite remaining on air for more than a week after the incident, Sandilands was subsequently stood down for two weeks and issued with a show cause notice to remedy the breach.
When the news first broke, questions were immediately raised about how the situation had escalated so dramatically and whether ARN had placed itself in a difficult legal position by allowing Sandilands to continue broadcasting before later removing him from air.
On his McKnight Tonight streaming show earlier this week, TV Blackbox co owner Rob McKnight said the way the situation had unfolded had left plenty of observers puzzled, particularly ARN’s decision to escalate the matter through a disclosure to the ASX.
Rob noted the timeline raised questions about how the network had handled the fallout, pointing to the fact Sandilands remained on air for more than a week after the incident before being stood down.
“If it was serious misconduct, why was he allowed to stay on air for over a week?” Rob asked viewers.
He went on to say the sequence of events had opened the door to scrutiny about whether the network had complicated its own position by acting after the fact.
Take a look at what Rob had to say in the player below.
With both hosts now engaging lawyers and statements continuing to emerge, the saga surrounding the KIIS FM breakfast show appears far from over.
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