New details emerge from the bombshell counter lawsuit that could cost Kyle Sandilands and Jackie ‘O’ Henderson millions of dollars
Kyle Sandilands and Jackie ‘O’ Henderson could be out of pocket to the tune of millions of dollars, thanks to a new countersuit by their former employers.
The Commonwealth Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), a subsidiary of ARN Media that runs KIIS FM, has filed a countersuit against the former breakfast duo.
They are reportedly demanding that Henderson and Sandilands pay for advertising revenue KIIS lost after the pair allegedly breached their $200million, 10-year contracts, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
It was also reported that CBC is demanding Henderson and Sandilands pay legal costs as well as vigorously defending claims made by the pair.
Court documents, lodged this week, allege that Henderson and Sandilands cost the radio station both advertising revenue and profits by breaching their contracts.
It was also claimed that a clause in ARN’s services agreement with Sandilands’ Quasar Media allows it to reclaim 87.92 per cent of a $3million signing bonus.
This means that Quasar Media – the company through which Sandilands provided his services for The Kyle & Jackie O Show – could have to repay $2,637,600.
It comes as shock new details emerged about the explosive fallout between Sandilands and Henderson this week, with court documents alleging he told her to ‘get your f***ing s**t together’ or ‘don’t f***ing bother coming back’.
The alleged outburst took place during a fiery off‑air clash months before the pair’s infamous on‑air bust‑up – which ultimately brought their hit breakfast show crashing down.
According to documents filed in the Federal Court late Tuesday, the confrontation unfolded at KIIS FM’s Sydney studios following an incident broadcast on air last year.
The court documents, lodged by CBC, allege that the once rock‑solid friendship – forged over more than 20 years on air – had already fractured months earlier, with a massive behind‑the‑scenes blow‑up in September last year.
CBC alleges Sandilands spoke ‘contemptuously’ to Henderson during an on‑air argument – an incident she has also cited in her statement of claim against the network.
But the argument didn’t stop when the microphones were switched off.
‘Kyle, that’s a bit rough, like f***en hell, I haven’t done anything to f***en cop it,’ Henderson is alleged to have said, according to CBC’s defence documents.
Sandilands is then claimed to have fired back: ‘You wanna know the truth, here’s the truth. Today’s the first day you’ve ever paid any attention or had to carry anything in the opener, and it’s all s**t.’
The documents allege the exchange deteriorated further, with the pair telling each other ‘f**k you’.
Sandilands is then alleged to have doubled down, accusing Henderson of being ‘too much of a mother hen’ and not focused enough on the show.
‘Don’t f***ing bother coming back either until you get your f***ing s**t together like a normal person,’ he is alleged to have said.
According to the defence documents, Sandilands claimed he had been ‘carrying this whole show for a f***ing year’, complaining that every time he raised concerns, ‘newsreader Brooklyn Ross and others said nothing’.
‘I’m just left here with a limp d**k in my hand,’ Sandilands allegedly added.
Five months later, Sandilands and Henderson’s partnership came to an abrupt end, after Sandilands accused her of being ‘off with the fairies’ during a brutal on‑air clash that left her in tears.
Both stars have since launched separate unfair dismissal claims against their former employer, with Sandilands seeking $85million and Henderson $82million.
The eye‑watering figures represent what the pair say they are still owed under their axed contracts, which had been worth about $10million per year each.
CBC’s defence paints Sandilands as the architect of a workplace so toxic that Henderson refused to ever work with him again.
The company claims Sandilands’ ‘destruction of his relationship with Ms Henderson’ was the culmination of a ‘a persistent course of workplace bullying and harassment of Ms Henderson of which she had complained’ – conduct it says amounted to a serious breach of his contract.
The company flatly rejects Sandilands’ claim that his sacking was unlawful, as well as Henderson’s assertion that she was dismissed for exercising her right to a psychologically safe workplace.
Instead, CBC alleges Sandilands breached multiple internal policies, including the ARN Work, Health and Safety Policy, the ARN Code of Conduct and the Respect in the Workplace Policy.
The February on‑air explosion is also alleged to have breached the NSW Work Health and Safety Act.
CBC further argues it was contracted to employ Henderson as Sandilands’ co‑host – not as a standalone presenter – and was under no obligation to offer her an alternative timeslot.
Her refusal to continue working with him, the company claims, constituted a breach of her own contract.