An Australian news anchor has apologised after leaked off-air footage of her trashing Novak Djokovic with her colleague went viral.
Channel 7 presenters Rebecca Maddern and Mike Amor slammed the tennis player in the leaked clip, which appears to have been recorded ahead of Tuesday night’s 6pm bulletin.
"Novak Djokovic is a lying, sneaky a**hole," Maddern said, before laughing. "Like whatever way you look at it. It’s unfortunate that everybody else stuffed up around him."
Amor said: “That’s it… you’ve got a bullsh** f**king excuse and then he fell over his own f**king lies. That’s just what happens right?"
I love these two @7NewsMelbourne anchors and they have a few thoughts on the Novak Djokovic situation over there with the #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/r5scdod8vp
— Wu-Tang Is For The Children (@WUTangKids) January 11, 2022
According to the Daily Mail Australia, Maddern has now apologised for her comments.
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A statement from Craig McPherson, Seven’s Director of News and Public Affairs, published in the newspaper said it was a “private conversation” and said they would deal with whoever leaked the clip.
He said: “The illegal recording was of a private conversation between two colleagues.
“It was an underhanded, cowardly act in breach of the Victorian Listening Devices legislation the perpetrator of which will be accordingly dealt with when found.”
The clip soon went viral, with some people definitely seeing the funny side.
I love these two @7NewsMelbourne anchors and they have a few thoughts on the Novak Djokovic situation over there with the #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/r5scdod8vp
— Wu-Tang Is For The Children (@WUTangKids) January 11, 2022
These two are pretty good, they should have a show https://t.co/OPAsCmU2c2
— Josh Barro (@jbarro) January 12, 2022
— Gary Lineker 💙 (@GaryLineker) January 11, 2022
This is the most honest news report I’ve ever seen on AU Channel 7 👏👏👏 #NoVaxDjoCovid https://t.co/rDIU2E93O8
— Joel David (@joellllllllll88) January 11, 2022
I feel a special kinship towards the Aussies.. they, and the Scots, have a remarkable no-bullshit filter I aspire to emulate https://t.co/bgdczYoLRu
— Shannon in Ohio 4 (@ShannonFreshour) January 12, 2022
The controversy follows after Novak Djokovic made headlines due to a visa debacle and questions over his vaccine exemption.
Djokovic, who is unvaccinated, travelled to Australia as he’s due to compete in the Australian Open next week.
Shortly after arriving in the country, the Serbian had his visa revoked on 6 January, before a judge overturned the Australian government’s decision.
Bizarrely, former UKIP leader Nigel Farage also got involved in the row.
In a statement published on Instagram last night, Djokovic admitted to meeting a journalist after testing positive and said there was an “administrative mistake” in his immigration paperwork.
Despite initial claims that he didn’t travel for 14 days before entering Australia, he was reportedly spotted at a training camp in Spain.
But Djokovic said this was because his agent ticked the wrong box about his previous travel.
He wrote: “This was a human error and certainly not deliberate. We are living in challenging times in a global pandemic and sometimes these mistakes can occur.”
He said he received his positive PCR result after attending a tennis event in Belgrade, but said he received a negative rapid antigen test before the event.
He wrote: “I was asymptomatic and felt good, and I had not received the notification of a positive PCR test result until after that event.
“The next day, on 18 December I was at my tennis centre in Belgrade to fulfil a long-standing commitment for a L’Equipe interview and photoshoot. I cancelled all other events except for the L’Equipe interview.
“I felt obliged to go ahead and conduct the L’Equipe interview as I didn’t want to let the journalist down, but did ensure I socially distanced and wore a mask except when my photograph was being taken.
“While I went home after the interview to isolate for the required period, on reflection, this was an error of judgement and I accept that I should have rescheduled this commitment.”
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