Studio 10 co-host, Jessica Rowe has addressed her experience with disgraced TV personality, Don Burke after footage of the pair working together in 2011 showed her threatening to walk off set over crude comments.
During a conversation about the allegations of sexual harassment and bullying made against 70-year-old Burke, best known for his long-running gardening show Burke’s Backyard, that quickly turned heated, the former Channel Nine presenter and journalist told fellow co-hosts Ita Buttrose and Joe Hildebrand of the “revolting” comments Burke made while working with her on comedy panel show, Can of Worms.
Footage of Burke saying he “loves a good f**k” in a discussion with Rowe about whether Australians swear too much surfaced on Monday.
“It was revolting, what he said. Everybody knows I am not a fan of swearing, anyway. But to me it was crude and belittling and people thought it was funny,” she said.
“I think I have a good sense of humour and I did not find it funny at all.”
Rowe then went on to explain, in her experience as a former Channel Nine employee, just how men like Burke can do the awful things they do, and still remain on TV.
“You might say, why did nothing happen? Unfortunately, there were people in power who worship this whole star system and have not held people to account.”
“He was a cash cow, as they say. Repeatedly, ratings and business success was put before individual circumstances and because somebody was more powerful and deemed as more worthy, they were able to get away with shocking behaviour.
“I have had instances where people have behaved terribly to me but because of my young age and inexperience I did not have the confidence at the time to call them up and when I did, I was ignored because I was young and a nobody.”
While Rowe made it clear she condemned Burke for his alleged inappropriate behaviour towards female staff members who worked on Burke’s Backyard, the same can’t be said for Buttrose, who appeared to come to his defence.
“I know Don, I worked with him in radio back in the ‘80s when I was hosting a show on 2UE in Sydney. I had two female producers and I spoke to them yesterday and none of us ever heard any of these allegations about Don,” the former magazine editor said.
“As far as we girls were all concerned, he was fine. He was a nice guy. Quite funny, very ambitious. I don’t know about the rest of it, maybe he changed. He has been judged in the court of public opinion … I don’t want to judge him.”
LISTEN: On this bonus episode of Out Loud, Holly, Rachel and Jessie discuss Don Burke and ask the question – what happens next? (post continues after audio…)
Hildebrand also weighed in on the topic, challenging both Rowe and Buttrose on their points.
“Are they all independently making this up? Are they all colluding with each other as some kind of conspiracy to bring down Don Burke after he has already frankly, not really [been] on television anymore?” he asked.
“There is a world of difference between a comedy show where the subject is ‘do Australians swear too much?’ and he makes a joke, whether it is funny or crude … There is a difference between that and all sorts of crude language and bullying behaviour that so many people talked about and he himself admitted to.”
Top Comments
What did Jessica Rowe do six years ago, as an established celebrity in her own right, when she encountered such terrible behaviour? All well and good to clutch your pearls now; what did you do back then?
I don't think these are all made up. He sounds like a real bully, but some that I have heard are just how some men rolled in the 90's. Not saying its right, but they do have to be taken in context for that time. A LOT of men will be thinking about their own behaviour from then. I could name a couple I worked with, but no-one would care because they are not famous, just bank managers and senior clerks. Funnily enough, thinking back, the junior men who were more my peers were not the ones to make comment- always the more senior and powerful.
I'm very glad that younger women reading these comments are outraged. We should never go back to a time where women were objectified in the workplace and made to feel less than because of their looks.