Virginia Trioli has a name for what Jackie ‘O’ Henderson spent years doing alongside Kyle Sandilands. She calls it collaboration, and she says it comes with consequences.
Speaking on ABC Sydney on Friday, the broadcaster told host Hamish McDonald that Henderson was, to some degree, an architect of the very environment she has now publicly said she feels “unsafe” working within.
“If you choose to be the collaborator, you’ll probably end up being the victim at some point,” Trioli said.
Trioli continued: “[Kyle] had a collaborator in Jackie O, who smiled and laughed prettily at all the appalling jokes and traducing of women and insulting of women and degrading of women that he was doing; she took the money and happily collaborated in that,” Trioli said.
She was clear about her sympathy; however, Trioli was equally as clear about its limits.
“I feel for her. She feels that her workplace is unsafe,” she said.
“And, I don’t want to make this personal, but there is such a thing as personal responsibility. And if you’re prepared to take that cash in order to make that kind of radio, then you might expect that someday it might come for you.”
The incident that broke the show
The rupture had been building before it erupted on air on 20 February.
During a live broadcast, Sandilands turned on Henderson, first criticising what he described as her recent “fixation” on astrology, then broadening his attack to her overall performance.
“You’re not doing the rest of the job, and everyone in this building has mentioned it to me,” he said, claiming staff had repeatedly asked what was “going on with Jackie” over the past month.
“It’s not great, it’s just a fact. Wake up (beep) .. I’m not lying to her to make her feel bad.”
Henderson’s response was measured but pointed. “Well, let management talk to me then. No, please, I welcome it,” she said.
As the exchange intensified, she became emotional.
“I would never say things like that about you,” she told Sandilands. “There are so many things that you don’t do, and I would never bring them up, and I would never say what people say.”
Sandilands replied, “Feel free, it’s an open forum,” but Henderson declined to continue what she labelled a “tit for tat,” calling the situation “mean and nasty.”
ARN’s response: termination and an olive branch
ARN Media moved swiftly.
The company confirmed it had terminated the services agreement with Henderson Media Pty Ltd, the entity through which Henderson presents the show, after Henderson gave notice that she “cannot continue to work with Mr Kyle Sandilands.”
In the same statement, ARN said it had served written notice to Sandilands and his company, Quasar Media Services Pty Ltd, stating that his behaviour on 20 February constituted “an act of serious misconduct” in breach of his services agreement with the network.
ARN also said it had offered Henderson the possibility of an alternative show on the ARN network, a detail that points to the company’s reluctance to lose one of Australian radio’s most recognisable names entirely.
Henderson: ‘I did not quit’
Henderson, for her part, has pushed back against the narrative that she walked away.
“Over the past few days, there has been a lot of speculation and misinformation about my departure from the show. I want to make one important point very clear: I did not quit or resign,” she said in a statement.
“I am deeply saddened by the events of the past week and the possibility of the show ending. This has come as a shock to me, as it has to everyone else,” she said, adding that “the current media narrative” did not reflect what had occurred.
“It has been truly heartbreaking to see how this has unfolded. At this stage, I am unable to say anything further, as I am addressing this through the appropriate legal channels,” she said.
“Thank you to everyone who has sent kind messages of support during what has been an incredibly challenging time.”
Main image: Virginia Trioli, Jackie Henderson. Source: Supplied