"Pure terror": Samuel Johnson recalls infamous Logies moment with Molly Meldrum
Samuel Johnson has opened up on his long-running feud with Molly Meldrum, which began at the 2017 Logies.
Johnson appeared on 2Day FM’s Hughsey, Ed & Erin on Wednesday to reveal the brutal fallout of the infamous moment when Meldrum stormed the state during Johnson's acceptance speech and took over the microphone, giving a rambling and at times explicit speech of his own.
The win, for playing Meldrum in the two-part miniseries about his life titled Molly, came at a time when the actor had become a tireless fundraiser for cancer research after starting the Love Your Sister charity in 2012 with his sister Connie, who had been diagnosed with multiple cancers throughout her life.
However, instead of being able to use his speech to raise awareness for the charity, Meldrum instead stole the actor’s thunder and was left facing a wave of criticism over his bizarre antics.
Speaking on Wednesday, Johnson said that incident was “pure terror” and a night he’s still not forgotten about.
“I told him it was my moment not his! I was looking down at the front table. It was all the people from The Project and they all had their jaws on the floor,” he said. “It was 8 minutes of pure terror.”
Johnson, who previously claimed Meldrum’s antics at the ceremony cost the charity he had planned to plug over $1 million dollars, went to reveal the fallout of the incident, confessing that he’s not seen Meldrum since all the drama went down that infamous evening.
“I don’t hold grudges, I just can’t walk into the future with him,” he continued, suggesting that more has gone down behind the scenes than fans know about.
“There’s a lot that he’s done that I don’t say. But it’s not that I hold a grudge, it’s that I’ve moved on.”
Johnson appeared on the same radio show last year when he spoke about the feud, when Hughesy urged him to let go of his grudge against the Aussie TV legend.
“You said you would never speak to Molly again … I hate grudge holding and that’s bad for you,” Hughes bluntly told Johnson last year.
“I agree with you, I totally agree with you, but when I’ve specifically asked you not do something, and it’s a once in a lifetime moment, a moment I’ll never get back … He has breached my trust in that moment and I’m sorry, I’m not going to do the Molly sequel. I don’t think I should,” Johnson argued.
Image credits: Nine Network / 2Day FM