{"id":858520,"date":"2026-08-17T14:02:26","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T14:02:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/858520\/"},"modified":"2026-08-17T14:02:26","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T14:02:26","slug":"abc-star-sarah-ferguson-jokes-about-holding-elon-musk-against-his-will-as-she-declares-the-scandal-hit-broadcaster-is-something-you-can-trust","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/858520\/","title":{"rendered":"ABC star Sarah Ferguson jokes about holding Elon Musk against his will as she declares the scandal-hit broadcaster is \u2018something you can trust\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

ABC presenter Sarah Ferguson has joked about keeping Elon Musk against his will during a bizarre exchange at the Logies, just one night before it was rocked by a new Mahmood Fazal scandal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ferguson was asked by interview Steve Molk who she would choose as her first guest in a hypothetical podcast.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

The ABC presenter answered Musk before\u00a0the interviewer\u00a0joked about paying $20 to make sure Musk never left the studio.<\/p>\n

“I’m\u00a0going to start with Sarah Ferguson\u00a0podcast. Who would be your first guest?” Molk asked.<\/p>\n

“Elon Musk,” Ferguson replied.<\/p>\n

“Can I slip in a 20 to just to make sure he doesn’t leave the studio,\u201d Molk said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cConsider it done,\u201d Ferguson replied.<\/p>\n

“This conversation never happened!” Molk then declared, facing the camera.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The exchange prompted News24 host Chris Kenny to question whether the ABC considers such a joke acceptable from one of its senior presenters.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Okay, so ABC host Ferguson wants to interview Musk, but jokes about ensuring, for a price, that he never leaves. What is it with these people?” Kenny said.<\/p>\n

News24.com.au sent questions to Molk and the ABC about what was meant by the remark.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Molk said the comment was \u201cnothing more than a joke in poor taste\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Asked whether it was a joke about killing Musk, Molk replied: \u201cNo.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

He said the intended meaning was that \u201cby isolating\/insulating his influence some things might be better\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI can see now you raise it how it might be inferred as something other,\u201d Molk said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Asked what was in poor taste about the remark, Molk said: \u201cHolding someone against their will is the poor taste view. With all the conflict in the world nobody should be held in such a fashion.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The ABC did not respond to News24.com.au’s questions.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere in their conversation, Ferguson defended the role of the ABC and its place in Australian broadcasting.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Molk asked why Australians continued to turn to the national broadcaster during major events and periods of uncertainty.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ferguson said the ABC had earned that trust through its role in public broadcasting.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause\u00a0we’ve\u00a0always done the right thing.\u00a0We’ve\u00a0always understood\u00a0that’s\u00a0what our role is. We really know what\u00a0we’re\u00a0about,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIncredibly important in all forms of broadcasting, to know what\u00a0you’re\u00a0for. And we always have.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

She said audiences were increasingly concerned about whether information was reliable.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd right now, people are so afraid of\u00a0what’s\u00a0real,\u00a0what’s\u00a0not real,\u00a0what’s\u00a0reliable, and the world is scary.\u00a0So\u00a0this is something you can trust.\u00a0It’s\u00a0worth a million.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The comments came just one night before the ABC became embroiled in a deepening scandal over using fake sources to create fictional journalism.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On Monday, News24.com.au revealed the ABC was rocked by another anonymous sources scandal linked to disgraced ex-bikie Mahmood Fazal<\/a>, who has left a trail of editorial carnage behind him at the national broadcaster.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\u2018Let<\/p>\n

Mr Fazal ceased employment with the ABC in May 2026\u00a0following an investigation into his paid role in a podcast titled Word on the Street in 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The ABC was later forced to remove two Four Corners stories by Mr Fazal \u2013 Cocaine Nation and Meth Highway \u2013 over concerns about fake anonymous sources.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, the ABC has since\u00a0identified\u00a0three more stories of concern: Four Corners episode Silent Orders, Background Briefing episode Meet the Teens, and a segment in Post Code Wars.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a statement on Monday, the ABC admitted its verification procedures had not been properly followed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The ABC has stressed its commitment to editorial standards and journalistic integrity as the review process continues.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The scale of the Fazal controversy has raised questions about how one of Australia’s most prominent news organisations verified sources used in high-profile investigative programs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It is not without precedent internationally.\u00a0<\/p>\n

One of the most notorious examples came in the United States with former New York Times\u00a0reporter Jayson Blair, whose career collapsed in 2003 after an investigation uncovered fabrication and plagiarism across dozens of stories.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Times found that Blair had invented material, used other reporters’ work and falsely claimed to have reported from locations he had never visited.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The scandal led to the resignation of senior newsroom executives.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Another notorious case involved The New Republic\u00a0journalist Stephen Glass, who fabricated people, organisations,\u00a0quotations\u00a0and even supporting documents to make invented stories appear genuine.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Fazal scandal is the latest in a series to have rocked the ABC.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, and 25 days after the episode aired, the broadcaster apologised, following a national backlash<\/a>, for an offensive film it aired that depicted a fictional attack on Gina Rinehart.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The short clip featured remarks about a “revolution” before describing an attack on the billionaire\u00a0businesswoman\u00a0in explicit terms.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Titled “A Very Relaxing Video”, the four-minute film was created by Race Around the World contestant Kate McGuinness while filming in Scotland.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The segment included a sexually violent reference to Australia’s richest woman.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The ABC Ombudsman found the controversial film did not breach editorial\u00a0policies, but\u00a0had fallen short of community expectations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Last week, News24.com.au revealed that the ABC has embarrassingly took down a second piece concerning Mrs Rinehart in as many weeks, with the broadcaster admitting that broadcasting a claim that the Australian billionaire is pushing for Australians to “work for $2 a day” was “inaccurate.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Late on Friday, the ABC removed an interview that its Radio\u00a0South West\u00a0Victoria station had broadcast with Victorian Socialists candidate Hera Sheppard, 18, on Wednesday.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

In the interview, she said One Nation’s surge in the polls was “a result of the massive amounts of funding from billionaires like Gina Rinehart who are pushing for Australian workers to work for $2 a day”.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Host Jeremy Lee\u00a0failed to\u00a0challenge the claim or push Mrs Sheppard to substantiate it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mrs Rinehart last month awarded more than $1.2 million to successful Aussie swimmers at the Commonwealth\u00a0Games, and\u00a0is known for\u00a0frequently\u00a0handing out random cash bonuses worth hundreds of thousands of dollars\u00a0to her staff.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

A\u00a0statement posted to the ABC website<\/a>\u00a0admitted the mistake.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Despite the online and on-air corrections being issued, it stopped short of apologising to Mrs Rinehart for the comments.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The ABC has also faced a significant legal setback over its reporting on former Australian commando Heston Russell.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mr Russell successfully sued the ABC for defamation after it aired a report that accused him of committing war crimes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The former soldier was awarded $390,000 in damages, but only after the ABC spent more than $3 million to defend its reporting.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a different report also concerning members of Mr Russell\u2019s regiment and platoon,\u00a0additional\u00a0gunshots were added to footage claiming to show an Australian soldier firing at unarmed civilians from a helicopter in Afghanistan.\u00a0<\/p>\n

An internal investigation later found the\u00a0additional\u00a0gunshots had been \u201cinadvertently\u201d added, but there was \u201cno evidence of any intent to mislead\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ferguson herself has also previously been at the centre<\/a> of an ACMA finding involving her work.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 2022, the media watchdog found that the Four Corners documentary Fox and the Big Lie, which Ferguson presented, breached aspects of the ABC’s editorial code relating to accuracy and fair dealing. ACMA did not find a breach of the impartiality standard.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

ACMA\u00a0identified\u00a0three breaches in the program, while rejecting\u00a0the overwhelming majority of\u00a0issues raised by Fox News.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The ABC strongly defended Ferguson’s reporting and said the documentary remained an important public-interest investigation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read related topics:ABC Backlash<\/a>