After launching a review into its After Dark program, Freya Fires Up, Sky News is reportedly ditching the show’s live broadcast format and instead will be airing a pre-recording of the episode. The decision follows an incident where a guest appeared on the show with bacon on his shoulders to “protect” himself from “terrorists”.
On Sunday, Sky News‘ newest After Dark program, Freya Fires Up, hosted by Freya Leach, landed itself in hot water after UK influencer Ryan Williams appeared on the show with bacon rashers on his shoulders.
Why? Well, according to the influencer, he said on the program, “The reason why I’ve got bacon on my shoulders is because the terrorists are a charming lot and they threaten to behead me every single day,” before spouting Islamophobic comments.
One minute into his appearance, he was cut from the interview, which was then followed by an apology from Leach.
“We do have to apologise for what was just aired, those comments earlier,” the Sky News host said before rolling on with the program.
Following the incident, a spokesperson for Sky News confirmed to The Sydney Morning Herald that “an immediate review” had been launched into Leach’s program, including how guests are booked and vetting procedures to avoid a similar incident occurring again.
“These remarks were wholly inappropriate and unacceptable and have no place on our network. The guest responsible should never have appeared,” the spokesperson told the publication.
“He was specifically asked for his reaction to the Charlie Kirk assassination and its fallout, but instead used our platform to spread his harmful views.
“We recognise the harm such rhetoric can cause and take full responsibility for this failure in our editorial processes.”
According to the SMH, two separate insiders claimed that the News Corp network had no senior editors or managers to review the show’s guests ahead of Sunday’s episode, leaving Leach and her sole junior producer to allow Williams’ comments to go to air.
The publication also reported that Sky News have interview producers who book and vet guests during its day programs, including AM Agenda and Afternoon Agenda. However, the After Dark programs only have one producer who also takes care of their own guests and bookings.
During The Late Debate — another show Leach hosts from Monday to Thursdays — the 22-year-old issued an apology for the incident, stating that the influencer “used our platform to spread his harmful views”.
“He was asked specifically for his reaction to the Charlie Kirk assassination and its fallout, but instead used our platform to spread his harmful views,” Leach said.
While the segment had been wiped from the episode’s online reupload, Williams has reshared snippets of the interview on his social media. He also told his followers that he expects to be arrested for hate speech following the stint.
In one video, Williams showed what appeared to be a Sky employee helping him put bacon on his shirt ahead of the Freya Fires Up interview.
“Strangely not the weirdest thing I’ve done in this job,” the employee said while placing the pieces of meat on the influencer’s shoulders.
“Nope, this is everyday Sky News Perth,” Williams replied.
In response to the video, a Sky spokesperson said the employee was a “casual technical guest liaison” who only helps guests and gets them set up for the interviews.
“He was not aware of the guest’s background and not involved in booking the guest or any editorial processes,” the spokesperson told SMH.
Per the publication, insiders who claim to have knowledge of this incident have said that both the junior producer and Leach — who is only one month into hosting her show — are expected to keep their roles following the incident.
Image source: Instagram
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