Promo from Sunday show on Channel Seven featuring Katy Perry
CHART topper Darren Hayes has called Australian TV show Sunday Night "bullies" after their divisive Katy Perry interview.
Perry got an assistant to tell guest interviewer Jackie Frank to change her line of questioning twice after the interview touched on her love life and, in Perry's view, not enough on her new album Prism.
Seven's Sunday Night promoted their interview by teasing "What did we ask Katy Perry that had her minders shutting us down?"
After it aired Twitter feedback included "I think the whole of Australia just went off Katy Perry" and retweets of Perry's comment to her minder "can we talk more about Prism?"
Others savaged Frank, who Hayes said was "not responsible" for the tone of the interview.
Katy Perry in her interview with Sunday Night. Picture: Still from YouTube Source: Supplied
"I watched the interview online and I saw something that has been bothering me, as an Australian living overseas, for about 15 years," Hayes wrote on his Tumblr page.
"There is a tone, and a quite nasty one, to the piece that sadly has come to epitomise mainstream Australian media that I must presume is only obvious to those who don't live there. It is, quite literally, bullying. Yet it presents itself as the victim.
"It's a seductive and insincere friendly pat on the proverbial couch to sit down and have a lovely cuppa and an honest chat. But there's a knife just behind the cushion and it's waiting to come out. It's almost like a sort of a sticky flytrap - sweet and inviting but ultimately an ambush."
Hayes also criticised Sunday Night's habit of airing footage captured before the interview officially 'starts'.
Singer Darren Hayes apologies to Katy Perry. Source: Supplied
The program has scored international exposure from two previous `pre-interview' moments.
First a pregnant Beyonce was filmed sitting down to talk to Molly Meldrum - movement of her dress was used to create an online theory she had a fake baby bump. Footage of the interview was shown around the world. Sunday Night also made headlines globally when Meldrum's friend Elton John was quoted slagging off Madonna when the musician reportedly thought the interview had yet to start and he was gossiping to a pal.
Sunday Night now regularly airs pre-interview footage of celebrities, including Perry asking Frank if her laryngitis was "contagious" while applying her lipstick.
Hayes says celebrities don't expect everything they do on film in an interview situation will be aired.
Sunday Night interviewer Jackie Frank is forced to move on after touching on a subject Katy Perry doesn't want to discuss. Picture: Still from YouTube Source: Supplied
"Especially with a pre-recorded television interview it is widely accepted that as the crew sets up, cameras roll but the final edit will only use the footage in the context of the interview. If you need to stop for a drink of water, a tissue or in Katy's case, to nervously look at a publicist because you're uncomfortable with a question being asked - it is presumed this will not make it to air. Not because you're trying to convey a false image. But because you're all professionals and you've agreed prior to the tone of the piece and presumably the subject matter. There's a level of trust involved. A subject will give their time and hopefully reveal some sincerity - but within the boundaries of an understanding the piece won't become a hatchet job.
Watch the interview here:
"Bear in mind, I don't know if there were any prior agreements made before this particular interview - it is possible Katy had a list of 'please don't go there' questions. It's possible she didn't. But one thing I'm certain of, there must have been a level of trust from both sides. This is built up when both teams talk - various conversations in the weeks leading up to this interview about the tone, about how the guest would be treated and about a certain level of professionalism. To take these offcut sections of tape, the 'wild footage' that included awkward moments in the broadcast then overlay ridiculous cartoon graphics and dramatic pauses to coincide with disparaging 'boo' voiceovers is not what anyone at this level of broadcasting expects.
"What result does it have? In Australia the media gets to say 'Ooh Katy Perry is a b**ch!' From an outsider's point of view? It just makes Australian media look mean and it casts opinions about our country that I don't think are or should be true. We're better than this. Sorry Katy."
Channel Seven has been approached for a response to Hayes' criticisms.
Katy Perry continues to succeed across music charts around the world. Source: Getty Images
You can read the full letter Darren Hayes wrote from his Tumblr page below:
I watched an Australian television interview with Katy Perry and I cringed.
Not because of anything Katy Perry said or did. But because of the way the interview was presented.
Let me preface this by saying, before I viewed the interview I had read several negative remarks on twitter from Australian journalists or record industry types about how badly Katy had come across in the piece.
Something didn't quite ring true for me and I watched the interview online and I saw something that has been bothering me, as an Australian living overseas, for about 15 years. There is a tone, and a quite nasty one, to the piece that sadly has come to epitomise mainstream Australian media that I must presume is only obvious to those who don't live there. It is, quite literally, bullying. Yet it presents itself as the victim.
It's a seductive and insincere friendly pat on the proverbial couch to sit down and have a lovely cuppa and an honest chat. But there's a knife just behind the cushion and it's waiting to come out. It's almost like a sort of a sticky flytrap - sweet and inviting but ultimately an ambush.
The journalist, an editor of a Woman's Magazine Jackie Frank, is a highly regarded and very successful woman with years of experience at the highest levels of print media. She is not responsible for the tone of this piece.
I think Jackie's intentions seemed good and at times she seemed embarrassed that her questions made her guest uncomfortable.
No, I think the problem with this piece lies with whoever produced the final cut. From space it's pretty obvious the network had decided this interview would run like a tabloid piece. Disappointing really given the standard you should expect from such an esteemed journalist as Jackie Frank. It's jarring because the piece is confusingly slapped together moments of flattery, patronising empathy (via dramatic text overlay) and the occasional cheap shot.
The interview begins almost immediately with a moment before Katy thinks the cameras are rolling: she appears to be asking the room to be quiet.
To put this into perspective you have to understand some basic agreements that exist between media and guests that are not necessarily public knowledge.
Especially with a pre-recorded television interview it is widely accepted that as the crew sets up, cameras roll but the final edit will only use the footage in the context of the interview. If you need to stop for a drink of water, a tissue or in Katy's case, to nervously look at a publicist because you're uncomfortable with a question being asked - it is presumed this will not make it to air. Not because you're trying to convey a false image. But because you're all professionals and you've agreed prior to the tone of the piece and presumably the subject matter. There's a level of trust involved. A subject will give their time and hopefully reveal some sincerity - but within the boundaries of an understanding the piece won't become a hatchet job.
Bear in mind, I don't know if there were any prior agreements made before this particular interview - it is possible Katy had a list of 'please don't go there' questions. It's possible she didn't. But one thing I'm certain of, there must have been a level of trust from both sides. This is built up when both teams talk - various conversations in the weeks leading up to this interview about the tone, about how the guest would be treated and about a certain level of professionalism. To take these offcut sections of tape, the 'wild footage' that included awkward moments in the broadcast then overlay ridiculous cartoon graphics and dramatic pauses to coincide with disparaging 'boo' voiceovers is not what anyone at this level of broadcasting expects.
What result does it have?
In Australia the media gets to say 'Ooh Katy Perry is a b**ch!'
From an outsider's point of view? It just makes Australian media look mean and it casts opinions about our country that I don't think are or should be true.
We're better than this. Sorry Katy.
