Don Burke rejects harassment and bullying claims
Former top-rating Nine television personality Don Burke has been accused of sexually harassing and indecently assaulting women who worked on his gardening program in the 1980s and 1990s.
Don Burke was considered one of the most powerful men in the TV industry for many years.
Burke, who hosted Burke’s Backyard for almost 17 years, says he’s “deeply hurt and outraged” by the allegations, which he says are baseless and were made by former employees with grudges against him.
A joint investigative journalism project by the ABC and Fairfax Media has catalogued a series of allegations against Burke by more than 50 former employees of Burke’s Backyard, with claims he was a “sexual predator”, a “bully” and a “misogynist”.
Former researcher Louise Langdon accused Burke of harassment and groping, while Bridget Ninness, a former producer, accused him of bullying and crude behaviour. An actress claimed Burke told her she would have to audition topless for his TV show.
Among those quoted in the ABC/Fairfax investigation are former Nine Network chief executives Sam Chisholm and David Leckie, with the latter saying he wasn’t surprised to receive the reporter’s call about Burke, describing him as a “horrible, horrible man”.
Burke has hired defamation expert Patrick George, a senior partner of Kennedys Australia.
In a statement, the former TV host said he believe the publication of the claims was “opportunistic and intended to severely damage my reputation, by trying to link my alleged behaviour with the appalling behaviour of Harvey Weinstein, which has gained a lot of media traction”.
“The bitter irony is that I have had a lifelong opposition to sexism and misogyny. Burke’s Backyard was a lone bastion of anti-misogyny from its inception in 1987.”
In his statement Burke described himself as “a classic sitting duck” because he not only presented the program but ran the production company behind it, meaning he inevitably had to fire some employees.
He said he chose many women, including nutritionist Rosemary Stanton and award-winning author Jackie French, to be on his program because they were the best in their field.
“My staff and I regarded the CTC productions workplace as being a very safe workplace and I am very happy to provide female and male witnesses to affirm this,” Burke said.
Nine said it had procedures to deal with such allegations.
“We have had in place for some time now robust policies and procedures for dealing with complaints and to support our staff in such circumstances,” Nine said in a statement.
The ABC’s 7.30 will be broadcasting interviews with Burke’s accusers tonight.
– AAP
