Mark Scott Apologises To Chris Kenny Over The Chaser’s Dog-Sex Bit: “The ABC Should Not Have Put The Skit To Air”

In September last year, the ABC’s The Hamster Decides, a political comedy program brought to you by The Chaser team, displayed a photoshopped image of right wing commentator and ABC critic Chris Kenny having sex with a dog.

The image was, it must be noted, a Photoshopped image. It wasn’t even particularly well done. But Chris Kenny took it to heart all the same.

The next month, after the network refused to apologise, he launched legal action against the ABC, the program, and its production company, Giant Dwarf. Kenny claimed the segment carried three defamatory imputations: 1) that he was a pervert who had sex with dogs; 2) that he was “a low, contemptible and disgusting person”; and 3) that he “deserved to be portrayed as a person who had sex with dogs”.

While the ABC defended the broadcast as satire, and Chris Kenny’s own son defended The Chaser on this website, the Supreme Court green-lit Kenny’s lawsuit against the ABC — at least on the second and third counts. The first complaint, however — that the segment defamed him as a pervert who had sex with dogs — was dismissed. No reasonable viewer would have thought Kenny had done sexed a dog, the High Court said; the image was “clearly concocted”.

Early this morning, Kenny’s legal team launched an appeal against that part of the decision. “A joke that I am a dogf..ker does not have to be true to be defamatory,” Kenny said. “A joke can go too far … I am yet to meet anyone who understood what was broadcast about me as a joke anyway, let alone someone who thought it was funny.”

And later this morning, in a last-ditch effort to make this whole farce go away, the ABC’s Managing Director Mark Scott issued an apology. “I would like to apologise to Mr Kenny for the ABC having put the skit to air, his depiction in the skit and because it was triggered by his criticism of the ABC,” he wrote. “I am sorry for the distress this incident has caused him and his family. I have also called Mr Kenny today to convey this apology and put it in writing to him.”

He also apologised for the apology’s belatedness. “While I had been waiting for internal and ACMA review processes to be completed before issuing this statement, I now believe that was a mistake and I regret the delay in making this apology.”

The Chaser’s Julian Morrow responded, too:

Re ABC statement today: http://t.co/uKfKMggo76 pic.twitter.com/L5mAFEtlbP

— Jules Morrow (@julesmorrow) April 14, 2014

Read the full thing here, or below.

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Apology to Mr Chris Kenny

I wish to apologise to Mr Chris Kenny for the controversial ‘The Hamster Decides’ skit run by ABC-TV in September last year.

At the time of broadcast, I described the skit as tasteless and undergraduate, but noted that it raised questions about the nature of satire and the boundaries of free speech afforded to satirists, comedians and cartoonists.

The audience of The Chaser expect fierce, robust and irreverent satire. Final decision-making on what goes to air, however, rests with the ABC.

There are different matters at stake here: whether the ABC should have made the editorial decision to broadcast the skit and separately, whether broadcasting such a skit was within the ABC’s editorial guidelines for satire and offence. Mr Kenny’s decision to take legal action on the grounds of defamation is also a separate matter.

Notwithstanding any ACMA finding however, I have come to the view with the Director of Television that the ABC should not have put the skit to air.

Having reviewed the issue, in my opinion it falls short of the quality demanded by our audience and normally delivered by our programming. While Mr Kenny is a strong and persistent critic of the ABC, and can expect to be a subject of satire, the depiction of him was very strong in the context of the satirical point attempted.

As a consequence, I would like to apologise to Mr Kenny for the ABC having put the skit to air, his depiction in the skit and because it was triggered by his criticism of the ABC.  I am sorry for the distress this incident has caused him and his family. I have also called Mr Kenny today to convey this apology and put it in writing to him.

While I had been waiting for internal and ACMA review processes to be completed before issuing this statement, I now believe that was a mistake and I regret the delay in making this apology.

– Mark Scott, Managing Director