Kerri-Anne Kennerley spills on Don Burke scandal: “Whole bunch of people involved”
There are a whole bunch of people who sexually harassed women in the TV industry, says Kerri-Anne Kennerley who was giving her take on Don Burke on Triple M Adelaide’s Roo and Ditts.
“I’ve done several stories with him, two in my home in various times,” the TV star said of the man she has known for decades.
“There wasn’t any question his language was appalling. I’m not a shrinking violet ... but to me he always was just that little bit worse.
“It was the language school of Kerry Packer and it went downhill from that. All of his executives spoke the same way and they were all colourful. But Don, sometimes, was just a little bit more.”
Numerous women and former employees have come forward in the past week claiming they were sexually harassed by Don Burke.
His show Burke’s Backyard was a ratings powerhouse on Kerry Packer’s Nine Network at the time.
“A lot of us knew but in those days there were a lot of men who did push the envelope,” Kennerley added.
“Boys will be boys. But many of us in that era drew a line in the sand and said: ‘Watch my lips. Do that again and I will hit you!’
“The simple answer was, that was an era. It was all going on for young and old. There are a whole bunch of people involved, but that said, it was part of an era.
“I’m not trying to justify it,” Kennerley said. “It has to be dragged out now because no young woman should ever have to put up with that.”
Burke addressed the shocking allegations on A Current Affair, admitting that at times he “wasn’t a nice person” but denied he ever crossed the line.
“I’m not that man at all,” he said. “Some of these things are despicable. It is not that a man should never say to a woman, it’s that no one should say it.”
Two former Nine executives have spoken publicly about Burke, with former network CEO David Leckie telling Fairfax, “I’ve been trying to think of Harvey Weinstein-type people [in Australia] and the only one I can ever come up with is Burke.
“He was a horrible, horrible man.”
Another former Nine Network CEO, Sam Chisholm, told Fairfax, “Don Burke was a disgrace because of his behaviour internally and externally”.
It is highly unusual for executives to speak out about a former staff, but Kennerley explained on Triple M: “They’re saying he’s a horrible person simply because he used to give them strife when he’d go in and try and renegotiate more money every year.
“They hated that. He was a bully with them as well as everyone else.”