Why Andrew Bolt claims it will be a loss if Alan Jones is found guilty after radio veteran was arrested on sexual touching charges
Andrew Bolt has claimed if Alan Jones is found guilty it will be a loss because it will demean the inspiring story of how a gay man rose to stratospheric success.
Andrew Bolt has claimed if Alan Jones is found guilty it will be a loss because it will demean the inspiring story of how a gay man rose to stratospheric success.
The Sky News commentator made the comments on Monday night following the arrest of Jones that morning on charges of indecent assault and sexual touching.
Jones, 83, worked at Sky News from 2013 until November 2021 but charges he faces do not relate to his employment at the News Corp owned broadcaster, where he failed to capture the huge ratings success he enjoyed at Sydney radio station 2GB.
Bolt said he had only met Jones briefly a handful of times.
I saw or heard nothing. To me I have got to he was studiously polite, Bolt said also insisting full background checks had been done on Jones before he was employed at Sky.
Throughout a five-minute segment talking about Joness arrest and charges, Bolt said the presumption of innocence must be applied, but if a guilty verdict was delivered it would be a loss.
I thought the official Jones story was inspiring, Bolt said.
He was a gay man who went from teaching to coaching the Wallabies, our national rugby union team, to being speech writer for Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser, to being a Liberal candidate, that was a rare failure, and onto a stratospheric success in radio.
Sky News commentator Andrew Bolt said if Alan Jones is found guilty it will be a loss because it will demean the official story of how a gay man can achieve stratospheric success
A gay man becoming the voice of Struggle Street Australians. I thought it was great. To me it smashed the idea that Australians are basically homophobic.
Despite Bolts claims this was the official story, Jones throughout his career refused to talk about his sexuality.
In Nine newspapers, freelance journalist David Leser recounted on Tuesday attempting to put this question to Jones for a profile he was writing on the then-king of radio in 1998 that was headlined Whos afraid of Alan Jones?.
Leser gave a verbatim account of the awkward moment.
Me (Leser): I take that point and I mean this with all due respect, but ever since the London toilet incident youve been dogged ... with all sorts of scuttlebutt about your sexuality. Can I just ask you to put on the record now ...
Jones: Youre going to ask me a nuclear warship question.
Me: Im going to ask you are you gay or not?
Jones: Ive never confirmed or denied anything … And I dont believe people should be asked to in relation to their private lives.
Jones has been released on bail following his arrest on Monday and he faces 26 charges including indecent assault and sexual touching with nine victims having come forward
Me: Well, I understand why you would consider my question a violation of that right to privacy or an imposition ...
Jones: Absolutely.
Leser said Jones said it did not concern him if his sexuality was an open secret.
“No, how could it?” he replied.
There are many things that are said about a lot of people, and you’ve got to get on with your life and you’ve got to be convinced of the validity of what you do.
The London toilet incident Leser had mentioned at the start of the conversation referred to the time Jones had entered an underground toilet block on Broadwick Street in 1998.
The area was known as a gay beat and Jones was arrested after police became suspicious about the length of time he spent in the toilet and charged him with outraging public decency and committing an indecent act.
According to journalist Chris Masters, who detailed the event in his 2006 biography of Jones in a book called Jonestown, Jones told friends he had been standing at the toilet sink with his trousers unzipped and had not been doing anything untoward.
Instead, Jones had been washing his hands in the hope that vigorous motion and the flowing tap water would help him overcome difficulty urinating, Masters wrote.
Jones was released on bail following his arrest on Monday, but has been hit with a raft of charges involving 26 alleged offences against nine alleged victims between 2001 to 2019.
They included 11 counts of aggravated indecent assault - victim under authority of offender, nine counts of assault with act of indecency, two counts of sexually touch another person without consent and two counts of common assault.
The youngest of the alleged victims was just 17-years-old at the time, while another is a former Olympic athlete.
Bolt commented on Joness demeanor after he was released on bail on Monday.
The man himself seemed frozen or, I dont know, composed, Bolt said of Jones walking out of Day Street police station in central Sydney.
Jones has previously denied allegations made against him and his legal team have indicated they will fight to clear his name.
