Darren Hayes calls for “trust” from media after Katy Perry interview
Darren Hayes takes aim at Sunday Night's decision to use "offcut" footage in a "bullying" Katy Perry interview.
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Singer Darren Hayes criticised a Sunday Night interview in which he says Katy Perry was bullied and he cries foul on the show airing ‘offcut’ footage.
The interview, conducted by guest reporter Marie Claire editor Jackie Frank, included questions on her love life which led Perry to ask “Do we want to talk about (album) Prism more?”
Another question led her publicist to pause the interview. Perry remained professional through it all.
Sunday Night used the moment in its promos, teasing “What did we ask Katy Perry that had her minders shutting us down?”
The show has previously used footage taken prior to interviews starting including Beyonce sitting down (and asking her she had a fake baby bump) plus Elton John slagging off Madonna as part of a ‘private’ discussion with Molly Meldrum. The latter significantly soured the friendship between the two men.
On his Tumblr site, Darren Hayes takes aim at Australian media culture for using these practices.
Here are some select excerpts:
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.
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.
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.
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.
However Perry appears not to be holding grudges, due to appear on The X Factor and Sunrise next week.
UPDATE: Sunday Night exec producer Mark Llewellyn has responded to the criticism of the interview, but hasn’t commented on the promo:
“When the cameras roll the cameras roll – all experienced stars know this. Indeed that was Katy’s own point about her own documentary – that those impromptu and unscripted moments were kept because they were real and honest. This in the end was what Jackie’s interview was too,” he said.
Via News Corp.
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- Tagged with Sunday Night, Sunrise, The X Factor
23 Responses
Katy Perry is mediocre to say the least.
She is only being interviewed so she can give Russell Brand a bad name, as always.
@ Tony Bee… you raise a fair point… But the TV shows wnat her interview just as much as she wants to flog the new album…. its a win win situation… the show needs to viewers so that put her on… she needs the publicity… now what i dont agree with, and im not saying it happened here, but shows have been known to in the past be a little cheap and tacky to get publicity.. and to give certain assurances that something wont be talked about… and then it is… its just odd all round for me and makes it cringey TV
Shouldn’t he be more upset about her song Ur So Gay?
I personally did not have an issue with the interview. Everybody should be happy, Katy her “minders”, Marie Clare and the 7 Network/Sunday Night. I am sure it did well in the ratings and i am sure that Marie Clare got good press from it and they sold more copies aswell as Katy gettting possitive PR. My personal oppinion is that if a celebrity singer or actress/actor does not want to be asked about there love life or certain issues which are more interesting but also could be controversial and could hurt their image then they should not do a interview. You cant have your cake and eat it to. Daryn overreacted
Give me a Graham Norton interview over this rubbish any day.
Boo-hoo. People like Perry only talk to the media when they have something to flog (a new album in this case), so it’s a shock when the interviewer actually wants to talk about something with more substance. Journalists shouldn’t be sucked into playing the celebrity game.
It was interesting, on a The Nerdist Podcast the other week Tom Hanks made reference to how bad Australians are as interviewers.
Discussing the annoying aspect of this part of the joke, he made reference to some things and it always being Australians.
@nooz2me
“the UK and US media leave us for dead in the sneaky business…. just take the phone hacking scandal as an example.”
Remind me again whose company was responsible for the phone hacking?
Don’t think for a minute that it isn’t going on elsewhere, they just got caught in the UK.
The interview was pretty tame, Jackie asked a pretty standard question about her inspiration for the album she was there to promote and that was deemed out of bounds by Katy and her minders. It was bizarre and warranted airing. The ‘out of bounds graphics’ were pretty tacky tho.
Definitely seems Darren is complaining more about the promo dept than the interview. Pretty petty considering the amount of attention this is getting.
The use of behind the scenes footage, makes it look like access all areas to the viewers.
I agree a sense of trust should feature, to promote the artists /actors latest venture and to probe for more details.
I saw the promos and thought 7 have done this before. So it isn’t a new tactic and didn’t make me want to watch the interview.
I think underhanded tactics work for an industry that self regulates and has admitted to the use of late starting times to gain an advantage over their competitors.
I think they need to grow up and treat the participants and viewers with more respect!!
It might come down to that the networks see it as the stars wanting to promote their films, cds, books, etc. and that the network is the one who is seen to be doing the favour for the artist. There are millions of wannabe artists, yet only a few media platforms. I do agree with some of what Darren said in regards to having professional conduct between both parties. His comments do seem heartfelt and based upon common sense.
Does any one really watch this tripe and expect journalism? This and 60 minutes TT and ACA are the Daily Telegraph for people who can’t read.
Not sure why he would take the interview as making Katy look like a bitch. She actually came across really composed and for lack of a better word, delightful.
Suspect he means the promos.
Glad Darren Hayes is willing to call out the Aussie media here. I totally agree with him! I’m a professional cynic, so I enjoy when someone’s squeeky clean image is challenged and hard questions are asked, but you don’t need to use underhanded tactics, and then sensationalise the results. That said, I don’t think this interview was egregiously bad, but it’s just more misleading BS from the Aussie media. Anything to beat up a story.
I agree with Darren. It is not good form for Seven especially when they are trying to lure her to X Factor & Sunrise.
I didn’t watch the interview but certainly the promos made Katy look like the villain.
Jackie Frank was a terrible interviewer. The passive aggressive sitting there staring at a piece of paper for 60 seconds because she was asked to move on from an intrusive line of questioning was a little bit saaaddd. The “Out of Bounds” graphic? Are we school children?
Yet another reason I don’t watch so call news shows like this, SN, 60Min, ACA and TT are all as bad as one another when it comes to pulling crap like this. Media Watch did a story on it recently.
Thanks for the YT link, I’ll have to watch (like Darren Hayes did) just to see how bad it was.
What a lot of hogwash from Darren Hayes. The first rule of interviews everywhere, not just Australia, is that you don’t say anything you don’t want published before, during or after an interview. With someone as experienced as Katy Perry and her expert minders, none of this should be a surprise. I don’t know where Darren has been living lately, but the UK and US media leave us for dead in the sneaky business…. just take the phone hacking scandal as an example.
Molly was really pissed off with Sunday when they showed that footage of what Elton had said. He said he told them it was not to be shown but they did anyway.
I don’t see the issue. I saw the interview and was impressed how katy handled herself. It made me more of a fan of hers.
He’s absolutely right.