KYLE and Jackie O opened their radio show this morning acknowledging yesterday’s controversial segment - in which a 14-year-old girl strapped to a lie detector revealed she had been raped - was "weird".
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The pair discussed the controversy at length on their 2Day FM show, insisting it was not a stunt but just a regular segment gone wrong.
Police and DoCS this morning said they were looking into whether a criminal investigation into the rape allegation was necessary.
"Look at what happened yesterday ... there's many people involved that would rather forget it," host Kyle Sandilands said at the top of the show.
"It was difficult for everyone ... not just the mother and daughter ... quite a weird experience."
Jackie O said: "It was such a weird day ... it wasn’t the best day yesterday."
Sandilands said the sex lives of underage girls was regularly explored in teen magazines.
"Have a look at some of these magazines ... this is not the first time in a public forum that someone's been on the lie detector with their mother," he said.
Callers to the show expressed support for the pair, most arguing the girl's mother was to blame for the incident and that the hosts could not have known what was coming.
But Sandilands said he had spoken to the mother and did not blame her.
"The mum is devastated, I dont want to blame the mum or the daughter .. for any of that."
He believed calls for him to be sacked were mainly because of his initial reaction to the girl's revelation.
"In hindsight, I wish I hadn't asked if that was your only sexual experience," he said.
Sandilands disagreed with a caller who said the show was too focused on people's misfortune, and said airing people's unsavoury experiences was not done for entertainment purposes.
"This is is real life stuff ... what I didn't want this show to be is just jokes and contrived humour."
Sandilands was critical of a comment by the Nine Network's Today show host Karl Stefanovic which maintained he had refused to apologise over the incident.
"This could not be further from the truth,'' Sandilands said.
"I've apologised to anyone who was offended that heard it.
"I've apologised to the girl.
"I've even apologised to the mother."
Jackie added there were no red flags raised before the girl's disturbing statement.
"Unfortunately we had no idea what was to come,'' she said.
"It was such a shock. It was one of those moments in radio where you just think, 'What do you do?'''
Despite the public outrage that followed, Sandilands said some good had come of the incident.
"After two years - the girl is 14 now - the family can get some counselling on it,'' he said.
Criminal investigation
Police this morning said they would liase with the Department of Community Services on whether a criminal investigation was needed.
Community Services minister Linda Burney said DoCS had met with both the girl and her mother, and the girl had been given counselling.
A joint team involving DoCS, police and health officers were investigating the alleged sexual assault, the minister's spokeswoman said.
'I'm scared ... it's not fair'
In yesterday's segment, the 14-year-old, who was brought on to undergo a lie detector test because of her mother’s concerns about her drugs and sex experience, told Sandilands before the questions started: "I’m scared ... it’s not fair."
After asking her daughter if she had skipped school, the mother asked: "Have you ever had sex?"
The 14-year-old replied: "I’ve already told you the story about this ... and don’t look at me and smile because it’s not funny."
After a pause she then raised her voice and said: "Oh OK … I got raped when I was 12 years old."
Karen Willis, manager at the NSW Rape Crisis Centre, said the segment was "appalling on a number of levels", while NSW Community Services minister Linda Burney slammed it as ‘‘in very poor taste and highly irresponsible’’.
2DayFM defended the hosts, saying the station was not aware of the incident and terminated the show as soon as it could after the girl’s revelation.
Sandilands last night expressed frustration with the press reaction to the controversy.
"There was no breach of any radio code. What I’m most annoyed about is that some of the press have jumped on this and made it out to be a stunt and a ratings ploy," he said.
In a column last night, he wrote that he was disappointed the girl's situation had become a big media story.
"I’ve certainly pissed off a lot of journos over the years but I’m sad that they’re using the rape of a 12-year-old girl to have a go at me," he wrote in The Punch.
"As far an apology goes, the only person I feel sorry for is the girl. That what should have been dealt with as her private situation ended up being one of the biggest news stories of the day."
Sandilands this morning said he and Jackie O would analyse the media’s coverage in more detail while on air.
Last night he also defended the premise of the segment.
"Our show is a real-life show, not some Punch and Judy pre-scripted show.
"We deal with a lot of real situations and sexuality is one them. I would never have asked the girl those questions myself. It was her mother who asked those questions."
The broadcasting watchdog is not investigating the incident because a formal complaint is needed to instigate action.