Tag Archives: lie detector

Shock jocks traumatise teenager

30 Thursday Jul 2009

Posted by in Life Rant

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What I think of Kyle & Jackie O

Ooooh, I’m hopping mad!

This is a HUGE story in Australia right now – the Sydney-based Kyle and Jackie O breakfast radio show ran some kind of gimmicky competition to win Pink concert tickets.

I’m sure if Pink heard about this, she’d be appalled.

The set up? Apparently, two people call in, one gets hooked up to a lie detector and the other asks the questions.

Who calls in? An entirely unfit mother dragging her fourteen year old daughter on the show. That should’ve been a red flag right there.

The producers knew in advance what kind of questions the mother wanted to ask her daughter – whether she takes drugs and has sex.

Yep, she’s legally a minor and her mother wants to ask her these questions on live radio. Somehow neither the producers or DJs or anyone connected with the show saw anything wrong with this.

Then, it goes horribly wrong for them.

Because it turns out the girl was raped when she was twelve, something the mother (words fail me) KNEW ABOUT already, but when asked on air, at first claimed she didn’t know if her daughter had had sex!

Under pressure to answer questions, the girl gets emotional and blurts out her painful story. On live radio.

King Bumbling Idiot Kyle (well known for his general idiocy and arrogance) clearly didn’t want too many seconds of silence go by, so asks her:

Right. And is that the only experience you’ve had?

The mother then admits she knew about that, but wanted to know if that was the only time!!

Mercifully, Kyle-the-Fuckwit’s sidekick interrupts, ends the segment and the girl doesn’t have to answer. Both shock jocks/idiot people ramble on about offering counselling to the girl – which she’s had none of to-date (thanks mum!).

Listen to an audio of the segment.

The next day, the King Moron writes a blog post defending himself and claiming he didn’t realise he’d said what he said. My blood is boiling!

It’s wonderful how everyone wants to avoid blame. No one wants to take responsibility. The whole thing is just sick!

Thankfully, the police and child services are investigating the situation.

Sure, Kyle and Jackie weren’t solely responsible for what happened, but they sure are responsible for how they handle themselves. And how they dealt with things afterwards.

Kyle was quoted as saying: We’re not on a time delay, but even if we were, I wouldn’t have dumped the segment… There was no breach of any radio code. What I’m most annoyed about is that some of the press have jumped on this and made it out to be a stunt and a ratings ploy.

I’d like to scratch his eyes out for that statement alone!

Let’s not forget that this incident could and probably did trigger a whole bunch of listeners dealing with their own trauma/abuse/assault/rape/violence.

Or that the girl, already traumatised, is now embarrassed too? That all of Australia knows what happened to her?

I’m busy making complaints to the broadcasting authorities and leaving comments on blogs. I simply can’t tell you how furious this makes me.

But I’m not alone. The uproar is widespread, thankfully.

Some of the news coverage:

If only they’d all say sorry, unequivocally and with no if’s or but’s.

Maybe then I’d feel they were genuinely contrite for this prank, instead of just patting themselves on the back for organising counselling sessions and quietly celebrating the publicity this has generated while doing what they can to avoid being sued.

Grrrr!

**UPDATE** Looks like the public outcry has been taken seriously. The show has been suspended indefinitely with Kyle saying he is ‘unable to work’ or something like that.

**Update #2** OOOH! Kyle is also a judge on Australian Idol. Or he WAS until today. He’s been sacked, thanks to the powers of an international franchise (Idol – see its good for something!).

I really hope that everyone involved takes a good hard look at themsevelves in the house of mirrors and wakes up to the truth of their abhorrent actions!

**Update #3** MediaWatch’s take on the events, PLUS… they shed light on the vile two-some’s other deplorable antics.

~Svasti