RadioLive says the Willie&JT show will remain on air and commercial-free for the next week after a raft of advertisers boycotted the station for comments made relating to the Roast Busters group.



Six advertisers - Telecom, Vodafone, Countdown, Briscoes, the Mad Butcher and AA Insurance - announced today they had pulled advertising, joining business directory Yellow, ANZ bank, and Freeview who made the move yesterday.



The move comes after hosts Willie Jackson and John Tamihere aired an interview earlier this week with a friend of an alleged victim of the Roast Busters group which was seen as victim-blaming and supporting rape culture.



Jackson and Tamihere yesterday apologised for the interview, saying they "absolutely don't condone the actions of the Roast Busters", and they had simply been trying to discuss complex issues. The Roast Busters are a group of Auckland youths, understood to be aged 17 and 18, who allegedly had group sex with drunk teenage girls and bragged about it online.



MediaWorks spokeswoman Rachel Lorimer said there had been strong emotional reactions to the story and the discussion of it, and all non-news coverage of the Roast Busters has been placed under extra editorial scrutiny.



"Willie Jackson and John Tamihere have apologised and remain on air," she said.



"We have apologised unreservedly for any offence or distress caused to listeners, clients or others by Willie and JT's interview with Amy and we would like to reiterate that we in no way condone the actions of the 'Roast Busters' or any violence against women.



"The Roast Busters is an important developing news story and one that RadioLIVE will continue to cover. However, in response to the strong emotional feeling around the situation, RadioLIVE has placed all non-news coverage under extra editorial scrutiny."



Lorimer said the company was unable to comment on clients' advertising campaigns.



"Our clients are extremely important to us, and we respect their opinions," she said.



The Association of New Zealand Advertisers has also waded into the furore, which chief executive Lindsay Mout saying the association encouraged advertisers to be aware of the media environment where their advertising appeared.



"Advertising plays an important role in funding media and while advertisers will not be censors, they must be comfortable that their messages are in an environment that does not damage their brand reputation," he said.



He added that the decisions by companies to pull advertising from the talkback show or the station was similar to advertisers pulling out of advertising on online media, such as Ask.fm.



"As media fragments it is important that the advertisers, and their agencies, ensure they give appropriate attention to the media environment as well as their advertised message," he said.



Countdown announced this morning it had pulled its advertising from the show.



"Countdown does not condone the comments made on Radio Live on the Jackson/Tamihere show," the company said on its Facebook page.



"We have now had the opportunity to review our advertising activity and have withdrawn advertising from this radio station." Mad Butcher chief executive Michael Morton also confirmed the company was suspending its advertising after a review.



"We didn't think the comments made on their show were appropriate, so our advertising is being pulled," he said.



Telecom spokeswoman Lucy Fullerton said the company was not a sponsor of Tamihere and Jackson's show and that it advertised with MediaWorks across a range of shows.



"Following the recent Roast Buster controversy and offensive comments made by hosts on the show, under our instruction, our media buying agency is taking action to remove all Telecom advertising from Radio Live," she said.



Vodafone announced it had pulled its advertising on Twitter, while Briscoes made an announcement on its Facebook page.



"We would like to clarify that yesterday we immediately pulled all advertising from the Willie & JT show and this morning we have cancelled all our advertising with Radio Live until further notice," the company announced on Facebook.



"We are not a company that wants to be in any way associated with the unacceptable actions of these presenters." AA Insurance was another to suspend its advertising on the station.



"AA Insurance is not a sponsor of the Willie and JT radio show on RadioLive, however one of our adverts did run during the controversial segment on Tuesday 5 November," Suzanne Wolton, head of customer relations, said.



"In light of the way the interview was conducted and the subsequent apology, we are removing all advertising from this programme pending our full review."



Freeview, which uses a third party to place adverts, has pulled its advertising from Jackson and Tamihere's show but will still advertise with RadioLive.



"The current dialogue is not one that we as a brand necessarily want to be associated with," general manager Sam Irvine said of the show.



Freeview and Yellow were among the 30 advertisers on air during Jackson and Tamihere's timeslot yesterday contacted by Giovanni Tiso, an independent researcher based in Wellington.



Jackson and Tamihere came under fire after an 18-year-old woman, named Amy, called the show on Tuesday to talk to the pair about the Roast Busters. During discussion, the hosts described the group's online bragging about sexual encounters with drunk underage girls as "mischief".



When she told Jackson and Tamihere she had been at parties attended by the teenagers involved in Roast Busters, Amy was asked "how free and easy are you kids these days?". She said she often saw them, sober, providing drinks to girls as young as 13.



Jackson and Tamihere discussed underage drinking, and why the girls were at parties without their parents' consent.



They put it to Amy that "girls shouldn't be drinking anyway, should they?" They added that if "some" of the girls had consented to sex, "that doesn't make [the Roast Busters] rapists, does it?" Jackson said yesterday he and Tamihere had been trying to discuss complex issues.



"We have no problems apologising to Amy for causing offence. Not a problem at all. We thought we were sensitive yesterday, maybe we could have done a better job."