He sparked outrage with a vulgar comment on the radio which led to him being fired by Triple M, and now former AFL legend Barry Hall has broken his silence to reveal his dramatic fall from grace since the scandal two months ago.
The radio station fired Hall, 41, on the spot over what it called his “unacceptable” and “inappropriate” behaviour. The former Sydney Swans premiership player was on-air with former St Kilda player Leigh Montagna when he made a comment about Montagna’s wife Erinn, who was set to give birth the following week. Erinn had undergone a medical procedure to induce labour at the time.
Hall made a remark that implied the male doctor had acted inappropriately towards Erinn during the procedure. Meanwhile, Montagna also gave a graphic description of how the process worked. Due to the nature of the comment, Starts at 60 has chosen not to publish it. Hall was swiftly removed from the show, leaving other panellists to continue without him. Triple M announced shortly after that he had been fired.
When AFL great Barry Hall made vulgar comments on radio, Australia demanded he be sacked for his stupidity. 8.30 SUNDAY on #60Mins | Did Barry’s punishment fit the crime? Or has the Age of Outrage gone too far? pic.twitter.com/wImZuA9q1D
— 60 Minutes Australia (@60Mins) August 23, 2018
Now, appearing in a teaser for Channel 9’s 60 Minutes, set to air on Sunday, Hall has admitted he and his partner Lauren Brant, 29, no longer have any income and are struggling to make ends meet.
“The thing is now, we’ve got no income now,” he says on camera. “There’s no real light at the end of the tunnel of when that will change or when that will be.”
Many listeners took to social media after Hall made the comment in June, showing support of Triple M’s decision to fire him.
One person on Twitter wrote: “I just heard what Barry Hall said. Wow. I’m speechless. Good on TripleM for sacking him on the spot. There wasn’t really any choice”.
Being new to working in radio I am always learning. Tonight Barry Hall showed me where the line is …. and it’s about a thousand miles from where Barry was tonight. 😬🤦♂️.
— Xavier Ellis (@XaviEllis18) June 29, 2018
Another said: “Being new to working in radio I am always learning. Tonight Barry Hall showed me where the line is …. and it’s about a thousand miles from where Barry was tonight”.
Read more: AFL legend Barry Hall dumped from radio show after vulgar comment
A third added: “I’m just finding out what about Barry Hall said on Tripple M last night. Absolutely disgraceful. In what world would that ever be okay?”
Still, there were some who didn’t believe Hall should have been fired over the comment and even questioned why Montagna, who was also involved in the conversation, wasn’t fired.
One comment read: “Omg just heard Barry Hall’s disgusting comments on Triple M. Equally bemused & irritated by the other commentators laughing along. So gross”.
https://twitter.com/jesslee85/status/1012752817688326146
A further message said: “Barry Hall rightly copping his whack regarding his comments but why isn’t every person involved in that conversation, including Montagna, not getting the same treatment? Disgusting behaviour by all involved”.
60 Minutes will air on Sunday night on Channel 9 at 8.30pm.
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