![\"Calum](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ed13c528ff29429d0a4267821595c52ca2cdc4cc.png\")
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Updated April 22, 2026 \u2014 3:58pm,first published 10:06am<\/p>\n
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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n Save this article for later<\/p>\n Add articles to your saved list and come back to them anytime.<\/p>\n Got it<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n Kyle Sandilands branded the man who is now chief executive of his radio network a \u201cp—y\u201d during a broadcast last year, saying he didn\u2019t \u201cgive a shit\u201d because he thought the executive would soon be out of a job. Instead, ARN chief executive Michael Stephenson sacked Sandilands last month.<\/p>\n The comments, alongside Sandilands\u2019 threatening remarks against members of the Mad F—ing Witches activist group, and claims of systemic bullying against his co-host Jackie \u201cO\u201d Henderson, form part of ARN\u2019s defence against his $85 million contract claim in the Federal Court.<\/p>\n Stephenson, a former Nine sales boss, joined ARN in late 2024 as its chief operating officer (COO). By June 2025, Sandilands was insulting him live on air.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause a lot of these p—ies, they show up, they think they\u2019re in charge,\u201d Sandilands said on June 20. \u201cOh, I\u2019m the COO. Whatever that means … No one gives a rat\u2019s ass, dog. And anyway, that bloke will be gone in eight months\u2019 time anyway. Do you know how many COOs I\u2019ve been through? Thousands.\u201d<\/p>\n Sandilands went on to lambast Stephenson, saying he was from the \u201cThe C-suites … The [expletive] suite. Where do all the [expletives] work! \u2026 That\u2019s why they\u2019re called the C-suites.\u201d<\/p>\n Stephenson, who became chief executive shortly after the comments were made, had employed a number of measures to rein in Sandilands, including adding more censors to the program after ARN was rebuked by the industry watchdog.<\/p>\n In March this year, ARN tore up Henderson\u2019s contract<\/a> after she allegedly refused to work with Sandilands because of his conduct towards her. It then scrapped his contract too<\/a>, prompting both stars to sue the network separately for at least a combined $160 million.<\/p>\n On Tuesday, ARN filed its defence to the claims, which includes a letter Henderson\u2019s lawyers sent the station in the wake of Sandilands\u2019 on-air tirade against her on February 20 that broke their partnership. The lawyers said that Sandilands\u2019 \u201cconsistent and ongoing bullying\u201d of Henderson left her \u201cpsychologically unwell, defamed and humiliated\u201d. ARN failed in its duty of care to protect her, the lawyers alleged, and as a result, she could no longer work with him.<\/p>\n In its defence to Sandilands\u2019 claim that his contract was unfairly torn up, the network claims his conduct was so poor it had to dismiss him despite his contention that he was merely playing the controversial character expected of him. And ARN alleges that Henderson rebuffed its attempts to investigate Sandilands, despite her bullying complaints, so it could no longer employ her on her existing contract when she ultimately decided she could no longer work with her co-host of 25 years.<\/p>\n On September 10 last year, Sandilands is alleged to have said he had carried the show by himself for more than a year in remarks that were off-air but were filmed.<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t f—ing bother coming back until you\u2019ve got your f—ing shit together like a normal person,\u201d Sandilands allegedly said, referring to Henderson. \u201cI\u2019ve been carrying the whole show for a f—ing year \u2026 I\u2019m just left here with a limp d— in my hand.\u201d<\/p>\n After Henderson complained, the documents state that ARN\u2019s then-chief content officer Lauren Joyce wrote to her manager Gemma O\u2019Neill asking for further details and stating \u201cthis is a serious matter, and Jackie\u2019s wellbeing is our priority\u201d. The next day, O\u2019Neill wrote back saying that the company should already have all the information it needed.<\/p>\n Then in December, O\u2019Neill told the company the issue was \u201cresolved\u201d. Additionally, the day after the February 20 episode, Henderson thanked Stephenson, ARN\u2019s new chief executive, and content chief Kerrie Elstub for \u201cchecking in\u201d on her.<\/p>\n Related Article ARN\u2019s defence, and claims it had attempted to investigate bullying complaints, contrast with Henderson\u2019s claim in the letter sent by her lawyers on February 26 that claimed the company had not taken the required action to act in compliance with its obligations to provide a safe place of work.<\/p>\n ARN\u2019s lawyers argue the February 20 incident was not isolated nor accidental, but part of \u201ca persistent course of workplace bullying and harassment of Ms Henderson\u201d that she \u201chad complained\u201d about.<\/p>\n After the Kyle and Jackie O show breached a number of industry codes in October last year, the court documents note ARN directed Sandilands to not discuss a range of topics during the show, including criticism of ARN executives or staff, any topic that included ongoing legal proceedings or was being considered by media regulator ACMA or ARN shareholder News Corp.<\/p>\n The following month, during a discussion on ACMA, and the Mad F—ing Witches activist group that had been targeting advertisers on the Kyle & Jackie O Show, Sandilands said he could \u201cget nasty behind the scenes if I have to\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd I don\u2019t want to. Well, I don\u2019t want to be burning houses down and shit like that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Representatives for Sandilands, Henderson and ARN were contacted for comment.<\/p>\n Both Sandilands and Henderson\u2019s cases will be back in the Federal Court on Friday for procedural hearings.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n![\"Kyle](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1774942148_465_19d9079d6bf687ba93376a53984baa5b60a7c14f9aa457446ccc775d421084cc.jpeg\")
Kyle Sandilands and Jackie \u201cO\u201d Henderson are embroiled in a messy legal squabble.Michael Howard<\/p>\n![\"ARN](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776839294_968_5465a0b223d93da325c0ff514979f4eba2a50421.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Calum](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768879812_762_ed13c528ff29429d0a4267821595c52ca2cdc4cc.png\")
Calum 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":"Updated April 22, 2026 \u2014 3:58pm,first published 10:06am Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":336817,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[430,156,111,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-391669","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\/391669","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=391669"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391669\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/336817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=391669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=391669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=391669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}