SYDNEY, Australia (JTA) — Australia’s top-rated FM radio morning host was suspended for suggesting on air that a popular comedian could lose more weight if she were sent to a concentration camp.
Kyle Sandilands of 2Day FM was punished for remarks he made Tuesday about Magda Szubanski, who is also a well-known television actress.
During a segment on diets, Sandilands said of Szubanski, the ambassador of a weight-loss program, “Put her in a concentration camp and watch the weight fall off.”
The comment outraged Jewish groups and Holocaust survivors, prompting Sandilands, who was broadcasting from Los Angeles, to apologize on Tuesday night.
“It was not my intention to upset anyone, and I sincerely apologize to anyone offended by my comments,” he said.
The next day, however, the Austereo radio network suspended Sandilands.
Adam Lang, the general manager of 2Day FM, said in a statement that “The suspension will be in effect pending further discussions involving Kyle Sandilands and station management. 2Day FM believes the comments made by Kyle were unacceptable and sincerely apologizes and regrets any offense they caused.”
Vic Alhadeff, CEO of the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies, said that “Concentration camps have caused the death of millions of people throughout history — in Cambodia, in Bosnia, in the Holocaust. Events of such magnitude and inhumanity should never be trivialized.”
It was the second time in a month that Sandilands was reprimanded. In the earlier incident, a 14-year-old girl hooked up to a lie detector on his show revealed that she had been raped when she was 12.
