Molly Meldrum hijacks Logies limelight with bizarre speech

Aussie stars came out to play for the 59th TV Week Logie Awards last night, and no more so than music legend Molly Meldrum.

The veteran presenter was on stage to congratulate 2017 Gold Logie winner Samuel Johnson, who took out the top award for playing Meldrum himself in Molly, the Channel 7 biopic about Meldrum’s journey from small-town boy to hugely popular Countdown host. 

“I know it’s very hard to play an old drama queen like myself and you do a great job,” Meldrum told Johnson in front of the Logies crowd in Melbourne, in an unusual reference to his sexuality, which he normally keeps tightly under wraps, even reportedly going so far as to demand that a gay kissing scene to be cut from the Molly.

In a rambling and sometimes difficult to understand speech that even presenter Dave Hughes had difficulty wrapping up, Meldrum recounted how he offered to teach Johnson, pictured below, “how to be gay”, before presenting the actor with a golden Akubra hat and giving him a big kiss.

News.com.au reported that Johnson beat favourite for the award, Waleed Aly, as well as popular personalities including Grant Denyer and Jessica Marais, to take out the Gold Logie.

Aly, however, didn’t go home empty handed. The Project host, who won the Gold Logie last year, won Best Presenter. He posed with his wife Susan Carland, as well as co-stars (from left) Gorgi Goghlan, Lehmo, Carrie Bickmore and Steve Price.

Other winners included Kerri-Anne Kennerley, pictured below with her husband John Kennerley, who won a Hall of Fame Logie Award.

The cast of A Place to Call Home, pictured below, picked up the award for won Most Oustanding Drama Series, while Henry Nixon won Most Outstanding Actor for his role in The Kettering Incident, a Foxtel Showcase TV drama series.

It wasn’t all fun for the stars however – some also had to work, including Today presenters Karl Stefanovic and Lisa Wilkinson, who were on hand with glittering microphones to capture to arrivals at the glamorous event at Melbourne’s Crown Palladium.

Did you watch the Logie Awards, or vote for a star?