{"id":754503,"date":"2026-06-23T06:46:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T06:46:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/754503\/"},"modified":"2026-06-23T06:46:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T06:46:13","slug":"karl-stefanovic-embraces-uk-far-right-activist-tommy-robinson-in-video-promoting-podcast-australian-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/754503\/","title":{"rendered":"Karl Stefanovic embraces UK far-right activist Tommy Robinson in video promoting podcast | Australian media"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Channel Nine TV presenter Karl Stefanovic has posted a video of himself embracing the UK far-right activist Tommy Robinson<\/a>, who is set to appear on his podcast.<\/p>\n

The award-winning broadcaster also told another UK activist, Ant Middleton<\/a>, a former soldier who has spoken at Robinson\u2019s \u201cunite the kingdom\u201d rallies<\/a>, he would \u201cmake a great prime minister\u201d, in an interview on his podcast, the Karl Stefanovic Show, on Monday.<\/p>\n

Stefanovic posted a clip on social media on Tuesday morning Australian time in which he is walking down a London street with his arm slung around Robinson, who has spearheaded recent nationalist demonstrations<\/a> in the UK.<\/p>\n

Robinson asks Stefanovic to finish a sentence: \u201cKeir Starmer is a \u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stefanovic responds \u201cwanker\u201d and the pair erupt in laughter.<\/p>\n

The post\u2019s caption refers to Robinson as \u201cthe ultimate disruptor\u201d and says he will be the next guest on Stefanovic\u2019s podcast.<\/p>\n

Nine declined to comment on Stefanovic\u2019s podcast, which he runs independently of the network.<\/p>\n

Stefanovic is one of Australia\u2019s most famous television presenters. He reportedly earns $2.8m at Nine<\/a>, where he anchors major live news events and co-hosts the Today breakfast show.<\/p>\n

But he is understood to be making exit plans from television. Nine approved the podcast launch late last year, in return for him taking a pay cut<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Robinson has been a prominent figure on the far right in the UK<\/a> for the best part of a decade.<\/p>\n

He was among those to share graphic footage on social media of a Sudanese refugee alleged to have carried out a knife attack on a man in Belfast<\/a> this month.<\/p>\n

The viral footage led to what anti-racist group Hope Not Hate described as a trigger event<\/a>, where \u201csomething horrifying happens\u201d and it is seized on by the far right, who blame \u201cmass migration\u201d for it.<\/p>\n

Homes and cars were burned in the riots after the alleged incident.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, British police seized Robinson\u2019s phones under counter-terrorism laws<\/a> on his return from a trip to Russia, where he met Elon Musk\u2019s father. He was held for about three hours before being released.<\/p>\n

Robinson has a lengthy criminal record<\/a>. It includes convictions for violence, public order offences, and financial and immigration frauds. He also has convictions for stalking and harassing journalists and has twice been convicted for contempt of court. He was banned from entering the US but was able to visit earlier this year<\/a>, when he was hosted by the Trump administration.<\/p>\n

Stefanovic\u2019s rightward shift and podcast success have prompted comparisons to the US podcast host Joe Rogan, which Stefanovic has leaned into, riposting \u201cJoe Bogan<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

His Australian guests have included the One Nation leader, Pauline Hanson, and others from the party such as Barnaby Joyce and Sean Bell.<\/p>\n

Other rightwing guests include the former Liberal prime ministers Tony Abbott and John Howard, and Coalition figures Alex Antic, Matt Canavan and Jacinta Nampijinpa Price.<\/p>\n

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has appeared as has South Australia\u2019s Labor premier, Peter Malinauskas.<\/p>\n

In Monday\u2019s interview, Middleton told Stefanovic British culture and identity were being suppressed while \u201coutside or external cultures\u201d were being \u201caccelerated\u201d. He said that caused confusion, which led to frustration, anger and then to violence. He said he did not condone violence but \u201ccan understand the civil unrest situation\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople have had enough,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Stefanovic replied that there were people around \u201cwho I\u2019d love, you know, to follow, because they\u2019re able to articulate it\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople like Tommy Robinson,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Middleton, a former special forces soldier, has appeared alongside Robinson (whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon) at rallies. The right-wing party Reform UK has recently appeared to distance itself from Middleton and his increasingly extreme views<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Stefanovic went on to talk about One Nation\u2019s surge in the polls<\/a> in Australia and asked Middleton how to convert Reform UK\u2019s popularity into seats in parliament.<\/p>\n

Middleton lamented that the right had been led by their emotions, \u201cover-passionate\u201d and \u201cover-patriotic\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t be over-patriotic,\u201d Stefanovic said, before telling Middleton he was \u201cwhat this country needs\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019d make a great prime minister,\u201d he said. Middleton responded that there was \u201cdefinitely a calling for that\u201d but that it was at least a decade off.<\/p>\n

The pair also discussed using military forces to \u201cstop those boats\u201d.<\/p>\n

Middleton said he hoped Australia would \u201clook at the UK and you\u2019ll learn from us before you get to the stage that we\u2019re at and it\u2019s potentially too late\u201d, warning of the \u201cwoke mind virus\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Channel Nine TV presenter Karl Stefanovic has posted a video of himself embracing the UK far-right activist…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":754504,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-754503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/754503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=754503"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/754503\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/754504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=754503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=754503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=754503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}