Eddie McGuire breaks silence on Karl Stefanovic ARN radio exit: ‘Good on you’
Karl Stefanovic’s co-hosting spot on the weekly radio show, The Long Weekend, has been axed.
Eddie McGuire has broken his silence and confirmed Karl Stefanovic will not be returning to co-host The Long Weekend radio show with him.
Eddie went on without Karl last Friday as his contract with Nine sensationally blew up after nearly a quarter of a century following a controversial interview with far-right activist Tommy Robinson on his independent podcast.
Until now, Australian Radio Network (ARN) had been tight-lipped about whether Karl would continue with the radio show and podcast, which had been signed off as a multi-platform agreement with ARN and Nine.
But a solo Eddie confirmed Karl’s depature on the fourth episode of the program today.
“As extensively reported this week, my co-host and friend Karl Stefanovic will no longer be part of The Long Weekend show, as he dedicates the next phase of his amazingly successful career to his podcast,” Eddie said.
“I wish Karl the best of luck as his storied and ever-colourful media journey continues.
“Good on you, Karlos. It was short and sweet, mate and I wish you all the best.”
Last Friday, McGuire hosted the show alone as Stefanovic was on holiday in the UK.
Karl had only appeared on two episodes.
Eddie teased that Australia would finally get to hear what happened between the TV star and Nine on the radio show.
“Next week, he will speak to me exclusively on The Long Weekend about the most tumultuous few days of his career,” he told his listeners.
That interview never eventuated and Karl instead platformed his own tell-all in an interview with Piers Morgan.
Morgan, who himself had an unceremonious exit from his morning TV hosting duties on Good Morning Britain, was meant to be the guest on The Karl Stefanovic Show. Instead, it’s Karl who’s left answering questions about the fallout from his interview with far-right activist Tommy Robinson.
“The Robinson interview that I did was getting a fair bit of play, criticism, all that sort of stuff. We were over in the UK getting all of these interviews about what’s happening in UK politics. Where are the voices? What are they saying?” Karl said.
“And I thought Tommy Robinson was a legitimate interview for us to pick up.
“And he came in, and we did it, and I put it up on air, and then a couple of days later… boom.”
“Karl’s association with ARN is limited to specific radio engagements,” a spokesperson said.
“His external media activities, including his podcast, are undertaken in a personal capacity and are entirely separate from the network, which we have no control over.
“They do not represent ARN’s views, editorial standards, or programming.”
The Long Weekend only launched last month and was a three-hour show set to be held every Friday.
The two hosts were meant to spend the afternoon playing “great music”, having “no-holds-barred discussions”, chatting to “big-name guests”, and diving into the big topics of the week.
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ARN journalist, former Channel 10 star, and podcaster, Georgia Love was the show’s newsreader and Sacha French, who has worked on Carrie Bickmore and Tommy Little’s radio show, is the executive producer.
It’s unclear whether ARN will parachute a new co-host in for The Long Weekend or if Eddie will do it by himself for the foreseeable future.
Ahead of the show’s launch, Stefanovic said he was excited for audiences to hear what he and Eddie had been working on.
“We’ve been friends for a long time. We are both ready to disrupt the status quo and let me tell you, we’ll have plenty of fun along the way.
“God, don’t we all need that.”