The fallout from the appearance of Ryan Williams on Sky News Australia wearing a shirt with raw bacon draped across it while making Islamophobic statements continues.
Williams, who was in the station’s Perth studio, was introduced by host Freya Leach on her show Freya Fires Up as a “social media sensation” and “conservative political strategist” during a segment on the channel.
During the broadcast, he claimed he wore bacon “to protect him” from terrorists, before launching into a string of offensive statements.
A source has told Mediaweek the network’s Head of Programs, Mark Calvert, was spotted by staff back in the office last night as the drama unfolded, when many assumed he was on leave.
The development follows further scrutiny after a video uploaded to Instagram shows a man, appearing to be a studio tech hand, helping Williams place the strips of raw bacon along his lapel before going to air.
Sky News Australia has since apologised, announcing it has now launched a review of the Sunday night program and its booking process.
Leach later made a brief on-air apology before moving to another guest, conservative strategist Joey Mannarino. Soon after, Sky cut Williams from the segment and later confirmed that his appearance would not be republished on its platforms.
Williams, however, reposted the video on Instagram, where it quickly attracted more than 90,000 likes.
In a statement, a Sky News Australia spokesperson told Mediaweek: “Sky News Australia apologises unreservedly for the deeply offensive comments made by a guest during a live broadcast on Sunday evening.
These remarks were wholly inappropriate and unacceptable and have no place on our network. The guest responsible should never have appeared.
He was specifically asked for his reaction to the Charlie Kirk assassination and its fallout but instead used our platform to spread his harmful views.
We took immediate action during the live broadcast to cut off the guest, and our host promptly apologised to viewers. The content was not republished on any of our platforms.
We recognise the harm such rhetoric can cause and take full responsibility for this failure in our editorial processes.
We have begun an immediate review of the program including our guest booking and vetting procedures to prevent this type of incident from occurring again.”