Former shock jock Kyle Sandilands has issued a brutal comeback to Sunrise host Natalie Barr after he appeared as a guest on the morning program.
Kyle slammed Natalie’s line of questioning, especially when she referenced his history of making offensive remarks about women and disabled people while co-hosting Kyle and Jackie O. The hit radio show was taken off air on March 3, 2026, following an on-air fallout between Kyle and Jackie O Henderson the previous month.
“Over the years, you’ve been criticised for comments about women, jokes about disability. When you look back… what do you genuinely regret, if anything?” Natalie asked Kyle on the morning show.
Kyle appeared caught off guard by Nat’s question, replying “When I’ve done things, and a lot of these things have been perceived to have been bad, some are genuinely bad or mistakes or stupid things that I’ve said. I just take it as a learning lesson,” he said.
“But they’re really just jokes. And then someone is offended. It only takes one person to be offended in this day and age and then the whole world has to stop.”
The 58-year-old anchor pushed on with more probing questions. “Would you be happy for your son to listen back to your broadcasts when he’s older?” she asked.
Kyle wasn’t impressed with this query, sarcastically remarking, “Well, he’s four, so yeah, I couldn’t care less,” he said, before going on to question whether Nat had listened to his show.
“Have you ever heard the show? I know you’re on at the same time. But I think you have like a dramatised imagination of what the show was,” he vented.
Natalie went on to bring up Kyle’s previous ‘radio code breaches’, which include his radio show airing disparaging remarks about Paralympic athletes, stereotyping gay men and airing highly explicit sexual material that violated the Commercial Radio Code’s decency rules.
After the segment, Kyle was left furious “F**k off,” he mouthed to the camera in a video he posted on his Instagram.
“Okay, just leaving Sunrise. Obviously, I’ve dropped a grenade in there,” he said, before mocking Nat’s questions.
“‘So, you’re horrible to women and handicapped people and anyone with any sort of sadness?’ No, I’m not.”
Kyle went on to accuse Nat of being ignorant by not researching him before their interview. “That’s bullshit that you read in the newspaper. Do some research, guys. I love you but research, research,” he said.
ARN terminated Kyle’s contract on March 18, 2026, following his on-air fallout with Jackie O. He challenged the dismissal in Federal Court, claiming it was invalid, before accepting a $12 million settlement in June. Last month, Sandilands launched an independent subscription-based podcast and broadcasting platform, Kyle Sandilands Live.
Kyle Sandilands and Natalie Barr’s long-running feud
This isn’t the first time that these two TV veterans have exchanged tense words. When it was announced that Natalie would be replacing Sam Armytage as Sunrise anchor, Kyle made it clear he thought it was a wrong move.
Back in 2021, the shock jock told radio listeners that he believed the former newsreader was not the right choice to lead Channel Seven’s breakfast program, describing her as “a little cold”.
This prompted Nat to call into the Kyle and Jackie O show to confront him. “You called me cold, Kyle,” she said. “Sorry Kyle, I actually have not met you in person but maybe if you met me in person you would see that I’m not that cold.”
Sandilands replied that he wasn’t questioning her newsreading skills — just her personality. “You’re just reading the news when I’ve seen you so I don’t know your personality,” he said. “Are you worried that people will start judging you on your personality not just great news reading skills?”
Nat hit back with: “Well I wasn’t until now, until you piped up … the other thing is you forget that I’ve actually done this a lot.”
After making her Sunrise hosting debut, Kyle eventually ate his words, telling her she had done a “superb job, everyone loves it, you’re fabulous.”
On Sunrise, Nat reflected on Kyle’s harsh words. “Kyle originally said the other day that I was cold, I didn’t deserve the job and it should have gone to someone outside the company,” she said, after thanking him for taking back his initial judgements.