“Half of what Alan says is very well researched, the other half is bullshit,” Ray Hadley.
There’s always been rumours of animosity between Alan Jones and Ray Hadley. In radio, where its biggest stars tend to possess the biggest egos, that’s not unusual.
In the past there’s been feuds between Jones and John Laws who, in turn, had run-ins with Bob Rogers. There’s reportedly a current stoush between Triple M’s Breakfast host Lawrence “Moonman” Mooney and 2DayFM’s Dave Hughes.
Usually, management keeps a lid on it. As with any team, in-fighting is not a good look. So, they organise a photo shoot in a scene dripping with bonhomie.
Happy days from 2014, (L-R) Ross Greenwood, Ray Hadley, Alan Jones, Ben Fordham and Chris Smith
Now that Jones has left the 2GB building, and won’t be coming back, the gloves are off.
It started with a gentlemanly disagreement about the effects of COVID-19. Hadley, along with other conservatives at 2GB such as Chris Smith (who also has his own show on Sky News), are firmly backing the best scientific evidence available and the prevailing medical advice at the time.
Jones and his libertarian cohort at Sky prefer to play to the anti-vax, all rights and no responsibility crowd – a tactic straight from America’s Fox News playbook.
Yet, even Fox News’ Sean Hannity has changed his tune, urging his vast audience to get the jab. Either he’s grown a conscience or perhaps he, and a growing group of Republicans, have come to the realisation that if they don’t start persuading Trump voters to get vaccinated, there may not be enough of them left to win the next election.
Hadley, though, won’t let Jones’ get away with peddling misinformation and half-truths that discredit government efforts to get this insidious disease under control.
As Hadley said on his show, yesterday, “Now, this pandemic and his performance during this has allowed conspiracy theorists and anti-vaxxers like his old mate, Pete Evans, who he does a podcast with occasionally to gain support from the minority in the community, who think the virus is nothing more than a dose of the flu.”
In another segment from Tuesday’s show, Hadley, goes for the jugular. Knowing Jones well, he hits the octogenarian’s ego where it hurts the most, his vastly reduced audience since leaving 2GB.
“Thankfully, Alan Jones has not been able to replicate his success on radio, on the small screen. His nightly program is outrated regularly, in fact, all the time by Peta Credlin. She’s the normal number one presenter on Sky News. Paul Murray, usually number two or three with Andrew Bolt.”
Hadley also takes aim at Jones’ history of belittling women. In this case his suggestion that Kerry Chant is a,“Bumbling village idiot and dumb. The chief medical officer in New South Wales – continuing his attacks on women in positions of power. He needs to be called out for what it is: scurrilous, contemptible and undignified. Words that I’ve associated with him in many areas over a long period of time.”
And then this…
“As you know, I’ve observed Mr Jones very closely for 35 years. I’ve seen some of his strange behaviour, and I do mean strange behaviour in the past.”
Hadley ends with…
“His dealing with some young people that have worked with him, also reprehensible over a long period of time. Anyway, I move on.”
Peter Saxon
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