{"id":913043,"date":"2026-10-02T04:30:17","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T04:30:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/913043\/"},"modified":"2026-10-02T04:30:17","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T04:30:17","slug":"nrl-grand-final-2026-amy-sharks-scathing-claims-resurface-hours-after-gig-announced","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/913043\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL grand final 2026: Amy Shark\u2019s scathing claims resurface hours after gig announced"},"content":{"rendered":"

Scathing remarks Amy Shark made about the NRL underpaying music artists have resurfaced just hours after it was reported she will be on the much-debated lineup<\/a> for the grand final pre-game entertainment<\/a> on Sunday night.<\/p>\n

The Australian singer, whose real name is Amy Louise Billings, made the claims last April during an appearance at the AFL\u2019s Gather Round.<\/p>\n

\"Amy<\/p>\n

Amy Shark is in a pickle after some scathing comments she made about the NRL last year resurfaced.\u00a0Hanna Lassen\/Getty<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m from Queensland, so unfortunately I\u2019ve had NRL pushed in front of me, which kind of sucks,\u201d she told the crowd of VIP guests, including AFL club executives. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not just saying that because I\u2019m playing tonight. You guys [at the AFL], you know what\u2019s up. We don\u2019t need to totally drill the NRL into the ground but you guys know what\u2019s up.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn case someone is filming this \u2026 actually you know what, screw them. Honestly, they just screw around artists, you guys actually understand artists, thank you for doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s worth mentioning that just a few years prior, Billings had been the headline performer at the 2020 NRL grand final.<\/p>\n

She perhaps didn\u2019t expect her comments about the NRL to leave that room last year and when they did land online, she was quick to address them.<\/p>\n

But she wasn\u2019t apologising.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t stop laughing. My phone has been blowing up,\u201d she said on social media at the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe truth is, this is not an apology, the NRL don\u2019t pay artists enough. They don\u2019t understand performances, production. They don\u2019t invest. <\/p>\n

\u201cI love the game. Always have. I was playing at a corporate. I\u2019m good at corporates. I was just playing to the room baby. It really isn\u2019t a big deal. We all need to chill.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Amy<\/p>\n

Amy Shark previously performed at the 2020 NRL Grand Final match.\u00a0Cameron Spencer\/Getty<\/p>\n

Now her comments have resurfaced just 48 hours out from her NRL grand final performance<\/a> alongside members of The Screaming Jets, Grinspoon, Peking Duk, and Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers on Sunday.<\/p>\n

The packed lineup of Aussie acts are slated to perform You\u2019ll Never Walk Alone by Gerry and the Pacemakers while Rabbitohs player Jai Arrow does a victory lap.<\/p>\n

He was forced into retirement this year after a shock diagnosis of Motor Neuron Disease (MND) and will be honoured with a tribute at the grand final.<\/p>\n

Billings and the other artists will reportedly be donating their performance fee to MND causes in Arrow\u2019s honour.<\/p>\n

Nine.com.au has contacted Billings for comment.<\/p>\n

\"Amy<\/p>\n

Amy Shark and members of the Screaming Jets, Grinspoon, Peking Duk, and Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers will perform at the NRL grand final.\u00a0Graphic: Polly Hanning<\/p>\n

NRL\u2019s grand final entertainment debacle<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a two-week-long nightmare for the NRL as it raced to secure pre-game entertainment for the Knights v Roosters grand final.<\/p>\n

Tones and I was originally in talks to perform, but that fell through less than a fortnight before the match.<\/p>\n

NRL boss Peter V\u2019landys then announced there would be no pre-match performance and the $1 million usually spent on a musical act would instead go to grassroots footy programs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been toying with the idea for a couple of years now in putting \u2013 rather than spending a hundred thousand dollars a minute over 11 minutes on a performer \u2013 into grassroots underprivileged kids,\u201d he told Today at the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a bit like buying a cheeseburger for the pickle. You don\u2019t do that. You buy it for the cheeseburger.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Peter<\/p>\n

Peter V\u2019landys announced the NRL would honour Jai Arrow at the grand final.\u00a0Getty\/Nine<\/p>\n

He then backflipped and confirmed there would be a \u201cbig surprise\u201d on grand final night, which he later confirmed would be a tribute to Arrow.<\/p>\n

The lineup of Aussie artists set to perform was announced on Friday after days of speculation.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Nine Entertainment Editor Richard Wilkins suggested the NRL could also honour Rose Tattoo frontman Angry Anderson<\/a>, who died last week<\/a>, with a musical tribute.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Scathing remarks Amy Shark made about the NRL underpaying music artists have resurfaced just hours after it was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":913044,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-913043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/913043","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=913043"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/913043\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/913044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=913043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=913043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=913043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}