Total of 19 big advertisers have dropped his breakfast program after comments he made about Jacinda Ardern

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

The broadcaster Alan Jones says advertisers who chose to abandon his program because of his slurs against women will be replaced by others.

“I’ve got no comment about the advertisers, they can make their own judgment if they go,” a defiant Jones told Nine News. “There will be others that take their place.”

Jones’ comments that the New Zealand prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, should be “backhanded” were condemned as dangerously misogynistic by women’s groups in New Zealand as advertisers continued to quit buying time on his morning program.

💧 Sleeping Giants Oz 📣 (@slpng_giants_oz) ALAN JONES UPDATE



Another successful day - Witches & GIANTS continuing to produce outstanding results 🎉〽️🥳



The pink list below - companies that have withdrawn their advertising from Alan Jones/2GB 😁



😠plus those that remain from the original list#Auspol cc @MadFckingWitch pic.twitter.com/PL6kQkS45r

A total of 19 big advertisers have dropped the Jones breakfast program from their roster since he made the comments on Thursday, driven largely by a Facebook group called Mad Fucking Witches which has 48,000 members.

Jones also claimed in the interview to be a victim of social media, saying the language his Facebook and Twitter critics used against him was “extraordinary”.

Advertisers have been bombarded by consumers on Facebook, Twitter and through direct contact on email and the phone. One of the biggest advertisers, Chemist Warehouse, pulled out late on Tuesday.

Last week Jones, a controversial radio host in Australia with a long history of making slurs against women in leadership roles, called Ardern a “clown” and said the Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, should “shove a sock down her throat” after she spoke at a regional leaders meeting about combating climate change.

On Tuesday, recordings of Jones released by the ABC’s Mediawatch program showed him making further derogatory comments about Ardern on the same day.

Alan Jones told he will be sacked if he makes more offensive comments on radio Read more

New Zealanders reacted with shock to the latest comments, saying they incited violence against women.

“This lightweight New Zealand Prime Minster Jacinda Ardern is challenging Scott Morrison over climate change. Now I hope Scott Morrison gets tough here with a few backhanders … hasn’t got a clue this woman,” Jones says in the recording, also saying that if he saw her again on TV he’d “puke”.

Speaking on his radio show on Tuesday, Jones said he had already unconditionally apologised to Ardern.

“I wrote to the prime minister privately to indicate that of course I meant no harm to her … her office has replied most courteously to my letter.”

Josh Bavas (@JoshBavas) How the NZ press see the Alan Jones fiasco: pic.twitter.com/7WBRXKcCp7

Ardern has refused to comment on Jones’s attacks, but told the AM show on Tuesday morning she had no intention of engaging with his criticism, and that he had a right to air his opinions.

“I understand that he of course used to be closely linked to the Wallabies so let’s just say that I think that revenge is best served through a Bledisloe Cup,” Ardern said.

“I don’t have an opinion on every single person who says something about me. And particularly given this is an Australian commentator, we’ve got enough of our own to occupy my time without me having to jump into something that an Aussie says.”

But women’s groups in New Zealand warned the comments had the potential to “normalise” violence against women.

Peter Fox 💧🦊🇦🇺 (@Peter_Fox59) Unbelievable! Alan Jones suggested @ScottMorrisonMP

give Jacinda Ardern 'a few backhanders'. Why hasn't this exhortation of physical violence against a women been more widely reported? So much for Jones saying the sock down the throat comment was a slip of the tongue.#MediaWatch

Vanisa Dhiru, the president of the National Council of Women New Zealand, described the comments as “appalling”.

Sally Ward, the senior manager of domestic abuse charity Shine, said Jones’s comments normalised the idea that women should be silenced through physical punishment, and insinuated that women have no right to hold or voice opinions, particularly from positions of authority.

“His comments are socially very dangerous and feed into norms that accept that women should be silenced,” Ward said.

“Normalising [unequal] power relationships on air only makes it easier for women to accept abuse, physical or verbal, as normal, and makes it socially and culturally easier for men to justify them. From there physical and verbal violence is a short step away.”

Jan Logie, the New Zealand government’s under-secretary to the minister of justice on domestic and sexual violence issues, said in a statement that any comment which normalises violence against women is shameful and does real harm.

'A huge win': New Zealand brings in paid domestic violence leave Read more

“Violence against women and gender diverse people in our society occurs at horrifying levels. It can often be normalised and downplayed through violent language, which is shrugged off as a joke or not a serious matter,” said Logie.

“The media has a critical role in promoting the norms and attitudes of our society. The way people with high profiles and wide-reaching platforms talk about others, the language and imagery they choose, and the attitudes they promote have a significant impact on how other people think and act.”

New Zealand’s opposition leader, Simon Bridges, described the Jones tirade as “too much”, though he qualified his criticism by saying Ardern “got her words wrong on the world stage, she implied criticisms of Australia”.

The Australian Greens MP Adam Bandt has launched a petition calling for Alan Jones to be fired, saying his angry rant amounts to a threat of violence against Ardern. As of Tuesday afternoon, more than 13,000 people had signed the petition, Bandt’s office said.

Jones said his comments were taken out of context and he has sent a written apology to Ardern, which her office has confirmed she has received.

Jones has previously said that former Australian PM Julia Gillard should be put in a “chaff bag” and thrown in the sea.