Legendary Australian TV presenter Don Burke has been accused of repeated incidents of bullying, and predatory and misogynistic behaviour. Several women who worked with Burke across his career at Channel 9 have spoken to Fairfax Media, detailing a series of disturbing allegations.

The allegations include that Burke frequently intimidated women, made unwanted sexual advances, invited prospective employees to his semi-rural home at night as a sort of power play, that he fondled women’s breasts and attempted to remove their bras, that he showed bestiality porn to a female colleague, and that he frequently made lewd and suggestive comments towards women.

Several people who spoke to Fairfax, including former Channel 9 executives David Leckie and Sam Chisholm, variously described Burke as a “a high-grade, twisted abuser”, a “terrible grub”, a “disgrace”, a “psychotic bully”, a “misogynist” and a “sexual predator”.

Burke was one of Australia’s most beloved television personalities throughout the ’90s. His show, Burke’s Backyard, ran for 17 years from 1987 to 2004. His production company was also responsible for the creation of Backyard Blitz, which introduced Jamie Durie and Gold Logie winner Scott Cam to Australians.

Burke has reportedly engaged top defamation lawyers and has emphatically denied the allegations in a statement to Fairfax. “The bitter irony is that I have had a life-long opposition to sexism and misogyny. Burke’s Backyard was a lone bastion of anti-misogyny since its inception in 1987,” he said.

You can read Farifax’s story here. The ABC’s 7:30 program will tonight air interviews with Burke’s accusers tonight.

DON BURKE'S STATEMENT: Burke's backyard presenter slams claims of sexual harassment in lengthy statement, calls publication of allegations 'opportunistic' #TenNews pic.twitter.com/9tzlPfwpj8

— TEN Eyewitness News (@channeltennews) November 27, 2017

Channel 9 Executives Had Heard Burke “Gossip”

One of the stranger elements of the Fairfax story is that several former Channel 9 executives were willing to go on the record, admitting they’d heard rumours of Burke’s behaviour.

“I’ve been trying to think of Harvey Weinstein-type people [in Australia] and the only one I can ever come up with is Burke. He was a horrible, horrible man,” former Nine Chief Executive David Leckie said. (The story was careful to note that Burke is not accused of rape, as Weinstein was).

“There was absolutely no care whatsoever for the consequences — the psychological damage, the physical damage.”

Another former executive, Sam Chisholm, described Burke as a “disgrace”, but admitted that he wasn’t sure if the station had done enough to stop his behaviour.

Nine’s former head of news and current affairs, Peter Meakin, said he’d heard “gossip” about Burke’s behaviour, but had never received a formal complaint.

One of Burke’s accusers, producer Bridget Ninness, said Nine had let women down.

“There was absolutely no care whatsoever for the consequences — the psychological damage, the physical damage,” Ninness said.

In a 2005 interview on Enough Rope, Burke admitted that he could be difficult to work with and did not suffer fools gladly, but in a write-up of the interview, Crikey wondered whether the interview could have done more to explore Burke’s “dark side”.

“It’s also a pity that more questions were not put to Burke about his behaviour and other issues in private, with staff and others,” Crikey said. “Many people who have worked with him could tell some horrifying stories.”

This Won’t Be The Last Story

Today’s Fairfax story is one of the first since veteran Australian journalist Tracey Spicer set out to expose predatory behaviour in the Australian media industry.

“We’ve put up with sexual harassment and indecent assault for so long and finally we’re able to say, ‘Enough is enough’.”

In the wake of the Harvey Weinstein allegations, Spicer invited women to come forward to her with allegations of inappropriate or predatory behaviour.

Spicer told Fairfax the Burke story is the beginning of a “seminal moment” for Australian women.

“We’ve put up with sexual harassment and indecent assault for so long and finally we’re able to say, ‘Enough is enough, let’s change the structures within the workplace so women can feel safe'”, she told Fairfax.

In a separate interview with The Australian, Spicer said she’d received 485 complaints about 65 separate alleged offenders.