Mon 18 Jul 2016 In: New Zealand Daily News View at Wayback View at NDHA
Controversial and homophobic sports radio show Controversy Corner has been taken off the airwaves after The Spinoff published a scathing piece which uncovered a recent show in which the presenters “unleash the world’s most powerful tsunami of terrible radio”. Former Controversy Corner host Mark Watson The 10 minutes of the show in question was rife with sexism, homophobia and racism. At one point show contributor Kieran Smyth is speaking about when his grandson asked a question during the All Blacks game one Saturday night. “Mate, how do you think I felt, my only grandson says to me ‘is that Collingwood’?” he asked Watson. “Did you disown him?” “Well I turned to my daughter and said, ‘darling are you telling me that you really are going to have him play for that tight-pants, weird singlet, bloody gay homo sport?’” Watson then tells Smyth, “lets not be derogatory” and that they need to “appease the 1 percent of people who control society”. Smyth replies “I’ve told you how much I love gays”. Mark Watson announced last Monday that the Radio Sport show has been canceled and apologised for this specific show. “Controversy corner was a segment designed to push the boundaries of opinion and discussion, but it was never designed to offend. I admit however, that we were reckless that night and we crossed the line of what is deemed to be acceptable. I apologise for the offence caused by the comments made by myself and contributor Kieran Smyth , it was not our finest hour.” In May, the leading sports organisations of New Zealand announced they are coming together to encourage diversity and inclusion across all sports, including addressing homophobia.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Monday, 18th July 2016 - 11:41am