Video shows TV anchors condemning and cursing tennis star
The employee who leaked the video of Channel 7 anchors ranting about tennis star Novak Djokovic has been fired, according to reports. Reuters reported that the employee was traced to Ai-Media Technologies, which provides captioning and transcription services. Ai-Media, which refused to name said employee, disclosed that the staff member was working remotely when he carried out the unauthorised publication of the video. They further confirmed to Reuters that the said worker "is no longer employed by Ai-Media."
The leaked video showed the anchors of Seven West Media's 7NEWS talking about the Djokovic's COVID-19 status and visa application. The discussion was made off-air, and both seemed unaware that they were being recorded. The pair can be heard condemning and cursing at the Djokovic, who is currently attempting to fight back against the cancellation of his visa ahead of the Australian Open.
Anchor Rebecca Maddern in the leaked footage said: "Novak Djokovic is a lying, sneaky, a**hole. Whatever way you look at it, it's unfortunate that everybody else stuffed up around him."
"That's it. You've got a bullsh*t f*cking excuse and then he fell over his own f*cking lies. That's just what happens right?" added her co-host Mike Amor.
“Whatever way you look at it, @DjokerNole is a lying, sneaky asshole.”
— CJ Werleman (@cjwerleman) January 12, 2022
Hot mic captures Australian television journalists dropping truth bombs on Novak Djokovic off-air. pic.twitter.com/BBzUutRul5
Read more: Former Channel Seven employee leaks sensitive information
Sky News reported that Seven Network officials and AI-Media carried out an extensive investigation over the matter, with Seven Melbourne's managing editor Lewis Martin stressing that the network will trace the person behind the footage. According to Sky News, the employees of Seven were cleared from the investigation because the leaked footage had a timestamp, which cannot be visible on Seven's internal video outputs.
Martin said that Maddern is "incredibly apologetic." However, the managing editor said that at the end of the day it was a private conversation that has been illegally recorded and distributed. Djokovic's visa has been cancelled for the second time on Friday after Immigration Minister Alex Hawke used his discretionary powers. Hawke said he is revoking the tennis star's visa on health and good order grounds, as the athlete remains unvaccinated against COVID-19.
