{"id":369225,"date":"2026-04-08T08:38:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T08:38:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/369225\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T08:38:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T08:38:16","slug":"jackie-o-demanded-arn-stop-kyle-sandilands-abusive-behaviour-months-before-february-blowup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/369225\/","title":{"rendered":"Jackie O demanded ARN stop Kyle Sandilands\u2019 \u2018abusive\u2019 behaviour months before February blowup"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Jackie \u201cO\u201d Henderson demanded ARN\u2019s chairman and chief executive intervene to stop Kyle Sandilands treating her like they were in an \u201cabusive relationship\u201d after he berated her by claiming she was on \u201cperiod time\u201d six months before their working partnership blew up<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Documents released by the Federal Court on Wednesday show Henderson complained about Sandilands\u2019 behaviour after broadcasts in August and September 2025 during which he berated her in similar terms to the February 2026 incident that ended their working partnership.<\/p>\n

\"JackieJackie \u201cO\u201d Henderson criticised Kyle Sandilands\u2019 behaviour in February in text messages to bosses at ARN.Artwork: Marija Ercegovac<\/p>\n

In the documents, Henderson demands more than $82 million in compensation from KIIS\u2019 owner ARN for tearing up her contract and claims the station breached workplace rules by effectively retaliating against her after she exercised her rights to complain about Sandilands.<\/p>\n

Henderson\u2019s lawyers also claim she was not offered a new show by ARN before the company terminated her contract on March 3, despite the network telling the sharemarket it had. And they argue that the radio network made no attempt to intervene during Sandilands\u2019 on-air rant directed towards her on February 20. Henderson wants compensation for lost earnings, reputational damage, pain, distress, hurt and humiliation.<\/p>\n

The document lists a number of communications showing senior ARN executives were aware of Henderson\u2019s complaints by at least September last year, supporting her argument that the February 20 incident this year was not isolated.<\/p>\n

Henderson\u2019s lawyers recount a broadcast on August 20 last year when Sandilands made \u201coffensive and degrading\u201d comments about her personal and dating life, including that Sandilands said \u201cyou\u2019ll never find anyone because there is, all of these requirements that you have \u2026 \u201d Henderson walked out during that broadcast, and Sandilands said she was on \u201cperiod time\u201d.<\/p>\n

Then the next month, Henderson alleges Sandilands made further remarks that the show\u2019s censors blocked from going to air. Afterwards, Henderson had a text exchange with Derek Bargwanna, KIIS\u2019 head of network, who on September 10 asked if things were alright.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah it\u2019s fine today,\u201d Henderson responded. \u201cBut let\u2019s make sure [chairman] Hamish [McLennan] and [then-chief executive] Ciaran [Davis] start to think about how to address this. We are getting a lot of complaints from listeners, calling it an abusive relationship, women especially. I can send you though [sic] some [of] the examples\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

The same day, Bargwanna told Henderson that he was \u201call over that\u201d and had spoken with both Davis and McLennan twice about the issue.<\/p>\n

Then, in February, Henderson allegedly texted ARN\u2019s new chief executive Michael Stephenson and Kerri Elstub, chief content officer, to make clear her unhappiness at Sandilands on-air remarks.<\/p>\n

She said his broadside was \u201cunfair, inappropriate and completely unprovoked\u201d and asked what the network was doing to prevent it happening again.<\/p>\n

Henderson filed the proceedings in the Federal Court of Australia last week<\/a>, demanding compensation of \u201cat least\u201d $82,250,000 after claiming her contract was unfairly terminated. Her statement of claim alleges that the ASX announcement detailing her termination on March 3 included \u201cmisleading and deceptive statements\u201d under Australian consumer law.<\/p>\n

In a statement to the ASX last Tuesday, ARN said that Henderson had made \u201cpsychosocial health and safety and bullying complaints\u201d to the station in relation to Sandilands\u2019 conduct toward her both on February 20, the day of the pair\u2019s now infamous on-air fall out, and before then as well. It told the market she had declared she could not work with Sandilands, effectively ending her contract.<\/p>\n

The matter is the second lawsuit ARN is facing. Sandilands filed similar proceedings<\/a> in the Federal Court last month after his own contract was also torn up over what the company said was \u201cserious misconduct\u201d relating to his behaviour toward Henderson on February 20 and before. ARN is defending both lawsuits.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Michael<\/a><\/p>\n

Sandilands\u2019 own statement of claim said that the broadcast, in which he said Henderson was \u201coff with the fairies\u201d and that everyone in ARN\u2019s offices thought she didn\u2019t \u201cgive a shit\u201d, was \u201ccongruent with the style, tone and nature of the Show\u201d and the robust character ARN \u201cdesired\u201d from them.<\/p>\n

In a letter to ARN on February 26, six days after the on-air blow up, Henderson and her lawyers claimed the company had failed to implement any measures to minimise the health and safety risks posed towards her by Sandilands, including psychologically.<\/p>\n

In the letter, Henderson said she was willing to continue under her then-current contract, but that the company would have to propose a new breakfast show. In its ASX statement on March 3, ARN said it had \u201coffered Ms Henderson the possibility of an alternate show on the ARN network\u201d, which Henderson\u2019s lawyers say is untrue.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Sam<\/a><\/p>\n

In total, Henderson and Sandilands are demanding more than $170 million in payouts, around two-and-a-half times ARN\u2019s entire market value as of Wednesday morning. ARN\u2019s share price opened at $0.24 on Wednesday, having been as high as above $1 when the duo signed their 10-year, $200 million contract in mid-2023, announced later that year.<\/p>\n

ARN, which has said it will fight both broadcasters\u2019 claims, is expected to rely on correspondence sent by representatives for Henderson on March 3, the day Sandilands was suspended and Henderson\u2019s contract was terminated. In this communication, Henderson is said to have made allegations of \u201cprior conduct\u201d by Sandilands, according to ARN\u2019s lawyer Tom Blackburn SC in court last month.<\/p>\n

Spokesmen for Sandilands and ARN declined to comment.<\/p>\n

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\"CalumCalum Jaspan<\/a> is a media writer for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, based in Melbourne. Reach him securely on Signal @calumjaspan.10Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":369226,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[430,156,111,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-369225","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-celebrities","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-newzealand","12":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=369225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369225\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/369226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=369225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=369225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=369225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}