sydney morning herald, tuesday, 12.05.09
John Fordham, of the Fordham Company and manager of embattled former NRL player and Footy Show personality Matthew Johns said, "I don't deal with David Gallop [NRL chief executive] in relation to Matthew Johns' contractual arrangements at Channel Nine. David Gallop has no direct involvement in any way, shape or form with Matthew Johns' arrangements with Channel Nine or indeed with any other entity. I am therefore deeply surprised that he would want to involve himself in an employment issue in which he has no involvement."
sydney morning herald, wednesday, 13.05.09
David Gyngell, [chief executive of channel 9] said in a statement, "I fully endorse [NRL chief executive] David Gallop's comments concerning the indefensible conduct of some players and the lack of respect for women and the critical focus on all stakeholders to help eradicate it from our game. I join with him in extending my apologies and sympathy to the young woman involved in the incident, who clearly is still distressed as a consequence."
Dear John,
You may want to wake up to your massive PR blunder in yesterday's ill-conceived defense of Matthew Johns and realize just how much David Gallup's leadership of the NRL has to do with your client's former employers at Channel 9 and the Melbourne Storm, not to mention any public appearances and sponsorship deals you may have had planned for Johns' future.
Considering what would appear to be your level of understanding of the public's contempt in this case, and the moral issues at play, you'll probably be "deeply surprised" at today's revelations as well that 9 and the Storm are very much influenced by the opinions of the leader of a sports league who grants them the rights to work on the league's behalf; a leader I might add who actually understands the public's disgust for the actions of Johns and others, and what it means not only to the economic future of the NRL but what it says about the public's values and basic respect for human dignity, and decency. When a media personality excuses his participation in gang sex on a 19 year old by affirming that it was consensual, most of us would know that something is desperately wrong.
How a legitimate entertainment manager could have so badly misjudged public sentiment against John's behavior in '02, as revealed by the Four Corners program, and his absurd wink and nod apologia on the Footy Show last week in advance of the Four Corners' airing is beyond comprehension. Notwithstanding the lack of personal integrity for the absolute moral position any decent human being might have taken on the matter, in what must have been your advice to Johns about his comments on the Footy Show, you compound it by assaulting Gallup's right to take a stance on the employment of someone directly connected to the integrity of the league over which he has authority, and take the blundering to new heights by advising Johns to announce that there will be no public apology to the victim.
It's astounding really, but pride comes before a fall, and I can only imagine how some of your other clients will be reacting to your handling of the incident, and your seeming lack of any moral compass, especially the females like Lisa Wilkinson, Tracy Grimshaw, and Deborah Thomas.
Note for the future: the truth will always surface, and the only course of action for any person in the public eye is a full and complete admission of guilt, followed by an unequivocal apology to the victims . . . not to the hurt one's actions have caused their own family. It's media management 101, John, and more importantly, it's the right thing to do.
disappointed,
downandunder
