Australian Sky News commentator Andrew Bolt apologized after saying Peter Kehoe, a school athletics coach, “hit on” a 15-year-old boy. In reality, Kehoe was convicted of grooming the boy back in 2015.
His comment was in the context of his show’s segment on a Four Corners report on St. Kevin’s college and the coach in question.
Bolt said on Feb. 18 that a convicted sexual offender “hit on a boy, no sex occurred.”
The boy, Paris Street, posted on Facebook about the segment, slamming Bolt and Henderson’s comments. “To have what I was subjected to trivialized…is inconsiderate.”
“If you displayed any sympathy towards me, you wouldn’t be minimising what was inflicted upon me,” he added.
Bolt apologized two days later on air. Sky News published the apology on its website, and said he was angry at the way people reported on his comments.
“I should have thought of Paris Street, the boy, how he might have heard it,” Bolt said. “I’m really sorry to you Paris, I’m really sorry … I should have thought about how you would take it. I regret it, I’ve spent every hour since thinking about it. I hate what happened”.
According to the Guardian, his guest Gerard Henderson apologized for “upsetting” Street, adding: “By way of background, the fact is that my comments essentially were directed at Louise Milligan’s Four Corners program Boys Club and I made little reference to Paris Street in response to the questions I received.”
iMediaEthics has written to Street and Sky News.