Karl Stefanovic certainly won’t be standing atop the podium for his much-maligned on-air performance at the Paris Olympic Games. But the Today show host, who is the most prominent face of Channel Nine’s coverage of the Games, could hardly have expected a surprise ‘diss’ about his performance to come from his former co-host Lisa Wilkinson.
Lisa, 64, seemingly ‘liked’ a July 27 post on X (formerly Twitter) about Karl, 49, which read: “Just painfully watching the Channel 9 Olympic coverage of the Opening Ceremony. It is so bad! Arrogant, narrow-minded, patronising and clown Karl Stefanovic making it all about himself.”
But Lisa, New Idea understands, was “completely unaware” her account had “liked” the post. The Daily Mail also reported that Lisa, or someone with access to her account, “unliked” the post as soon as the incident was brought to her attention. Lisa’s “liking” was only made public via another post on X, shared by the person who originally tweeted the comment about Karl.
“That post wasn’t very friendly,” our TV insider says. “It read like Karl should be booted from Nine’s coverage.”
Other stars were also quick to express surprise over the incident. A reaction video to the post was shared on the Nova Network’s Ricki-Lee, Tim & Joel radio show’s Instagram page, with stars Joel Creasey and Ricki-Lee Coulter in particular, audibly incredulous.
“No! I don’t want to believe that,” she exclaimed.
Lisa and Karl co-hosted Today together for 10 years. She then defected to Network Ten in 2017 to co-host The Project following a pay dispute, amid her claims – reiterated in her 2021 biography It Wasn’t Supposed to Be Like This – that Karl was paid significantly more than she was.
But the pair seemed to have buried the hatchet when they warmly greeted one another and posed for photos together at a 2022 Logies launch event on the Gold Coast.
This latest social media incident, regardless of how it came about, has not emerged at the best time for Karl.
He and his wife Jasmine, 40, have been blasted as “out of touch” for sharing photos from Paris showing off their comfortable Airbnb accommodation, and at a ritzy lunch hosted by Channel Nine.
With Nine staffers recently striking in a bid to secure better pay and conditions – and other staffers at the Games complaining about working “16-hour days” and “shoddy” accommodation – the posts were widely condemned.
His on-air performance has been criticised too – as evidenced by the X comment – but many have also been quick to jump to the star’s defence.
“Karl and Sarah [Abo] are doing a great job fronting the Games – it would be an incredibly tough gig,” our TV insider says. Meanwhile a fan commented online: “He is working his butt off.”
Our insider adds: “Karl is a consummate professional but things haven’t been going his way during the Games.”
