Kyle Sandilands has repeatedly attacked Kiis FM executives, the radio station’s censors, critics of The Kyle and Jackie O Show and Melbourne viewers in an expletive-filled rant, according to federal court documents.
Details of the alleged rant, which was aired months before the shock jock was fired and charged with “serious misconduct” by ARN, are included in the company’s defense to an $85 million claim brought by Sandilands.
The defense claims Sandilands called the activist group Mad Fucking Witches (MFW) “dangerous lunatics”, accused internal censors of using the trash button and called ARN executives “sluts”.
Grassroots activist MFW launched a community campaign targeting Sandilands, successfully damaging Kiis FM’s advertising revenue.
“I’ll enjoy having this [private investigators] According to court documents, he said of MFW: “I think they’re Mothers for Awakening, MFW. They’re a bunch of lunatics. They’re actually quite threatening.”
He also denigrated Melbourne viewers and attacked management for trying to boost the show’s popularity in that market, ARN said in documents released by the Federal Court on Thursday.
“There’s something I haven’t discussed with Jackie yet. If the ratings don’t go up by the end of this year, we’ll take the carpet down. We’ll just pull the show out of Melbourne. You can suck my dick,” he said.
He said ARN had “zero control over what we do with this show” and told censors: “Don’t air this shit out loud or they’ll be out of a job.”
“Let me explain again: The bosses have zero control over what we do on this show. Zero. Nothing. Jackie and I… it starts with what we want to do and ends with what we want to do.”
The controversy began when Sandilands and co-host Jackie “O” Henderson got into an on-air argument over his interest in astrology. She left the Breakfast Show in tears after he gave her a dressing down. Ms Henderson told ARN she could no longer work with her on-air partner of 25 years and her contract had been terminated.
Henderson also filed a lawsuit claiming he should receive “at least $82.25 million” in damages for the wrongful termination of his 10-year contract. Henderson claimed he received “degrading” comments from Sandilands during the broadcast.
The defense said that during their last on-air appearance together, Sandilands told Henderson: “I’ve been running this show for a year…I’ve just been left here with a limp penis in my hand.”
ARN’s defense said Mr Sandilands told a Melbourne listener “you can suck my dick” after he didn’t go along with the rate management expected.
“I don’t care [about shareholders]. I got the money. The end of compassion. ”
ARN claims Sandilands has quit the show Complaints for censorship and contempt of court in July 2025. The radio station was under pressure after the Victorian Crown Prosecution Service considered contempt charges over comments he made during the trial of murderer Erin Patterson.
“I’m not going to come here and waste my life when I’ve been given this direction, that direction, this outdated law, that outdated law,” Sandilands said, according to the defense. “I wouldn’t do that. I just have no interest in being manipulated by losers. Right?”
ARN begins cross-claims against former host
ARN also filed cross-claims against both Sandilands and Henderson, alleging that Henderson’s refusal to appear with his co-host caused Sandilands to break his $100 million, 10-year contract.
“As a result, [ARN has] suffered loss or damage in the form of lost advertising revenue or lost profits,” the cross-claim filed in federal court said.
ARN is seeking $100 million in damages from the two for breach of individual contracts and loss of advertising revenue.
ARN defended that it had instructed Sandilands to read, understand and comply with the Broadcasting Code after the Australian Communications and Media Authority (Acma) threatened to impose additional license conditions on the licensee following repeated breaches of the Commercial Radio Code’s decency clause.
In March, Acma ruled that the Kiis FM radio program hosted by the pair must not broadcast strong sexual content for the next five years, or else ARN Media could face penalties as serious as having the station’s license revoked. However, the verdict was handed down after the pair took off.
Mr. Henderson’s woes aren’t due to ARN infringement: Companies
In a separate defense to Mr Henderson’s claims, the broadcaster told the Federal Court that if Mr Henderson suffered any pain, hurt, humiliation or suffering at the hands of Mr Sandilands, it was not caused by ARN Media’s alleged breach of workplace law.
ARN’s lawyers said in a statement released by the court on Thursday that Henderson “suffered from a mental illness that extended to physical symptoms resulting from Mr Sandilands’ bullying behavior”.
ARN said the media company had “no ability or authority” to prevent Mr Sandilands from engaging in “bullying or other unwanted behavior” towards Mr Henderson.
Ms Henderson’s lawyer told ARN that she could no longer work with Mr Sandilands after he was “attacked and bullied on live prime time radio”.
“There is evidence that she endured persistent bullying by Mr. Sandilands well before the events of February 20, 2026. Despite numerous opportunities to address this incident, the group failed to adequately address it legally and ethically,” the letter said.
But the company argued that the terms of Henderson’s $100 million contract meant he had no right to refuse to do a breakfast radio show with Sandilands or to request a different show from ARN. ARN said this was a “conflict of terms” and that his refusal to work with the on-air partner of 25 years resulted in the termination of his contract.
Judge Angus Stewart is scheduled to hold a joint case management hearing on Friday morning, despite the applicants bringing separate proceedings against ARN.
The hearing will be livestreamed on the federal court’s YouTube channel.
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