Channel Seven has responded after an off-air exchange between anchors Rebecca Maddern and Mike Amor calling tennis pro Novak Djokovic an “a***hole” was leaked on Tuesday.
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In the footage, host Rebecca can be heard telling co-anchor Mike, “Whatever way you look at it, Novak Djokovic is a lying, sneaky, a***hole.
“It’s unfortunate that everybody else stuffed up around him.”
She continued, “To go out when you know you’re Covid-positive — well, I don’t think he was even Covid-positive …”
Mike also went on to call Djokovic an “a***hole” and added: “You’ve got a bulls**t f***ing excuse and then he fell over his own f***ing lies, which is what happens right? That’s what’s happened.”
Rebecca, who only recently joined the Channel Seven team after jumping ship from Nine, then cast doubt on the legitimacy of Novak’s Australian Travel Declaration form, with Mike responding, “I think he’s going to get away with it”.
“I think most fair-minded people would say, ‘The bloke’s an a***hole’. Did they do the right thing by him? I don’t know. They f***ed it up. That’s the problem, isn’t it,” he added.
Bec continued that she didn’t believe that “anything was gained from putting him in immigration hotels”.
“The fact is life is never fair. Some people fly first class … it’s never fair,” she added.
Meanwhile, Seven Network Director of News and Public Affairs, Craig McPherson, has since slammed the “cowardly” leak.
“The illegal recording was of a private conversation between two colleagues. It was an underhanded, cowardly act in breach of the Victorian Listening Devices legislation the perpetrator of which will be accordingly dealt with when found.”
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Channel Seven managing director Lewis Martin added that Rebecca Maddern had apologised and the network was now investigating the source of the leak.
“There has been an illegal recording of a private conversation,” he told 3AW radio. “It is something that is going to be looked at and is being looked at thoroughly.
“We are going to have an outcome. What has happened here is illegal.”
Rebecca Maddern only recently joined the Seven news team after hosting a number of gigs at rival Nine.
“I walked into Channel Seven as a 24-year-old cadet and now I return to read the weekend news so it is a really lovely feeling,” she said recently of her new role.
“It is a job of a lifetime; these opportunities don’t come up very often.
“You only have to look at the main anchors and how long they have been in those roles, so it is not lost on me how lucky I am.”
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