Mother slams Kate Ritchie after comments made by Nova radio hosts

[Perry]

'I am APPALLED at you Kate Ritchie': Mother slams 'comedy act' comments made by Nova radio hosts during segment about a baby born with an adult-sized tongue

Radio hosts at NOVA have come under fire for poking fun at a baby

Paisley Morrison-Johnson has Beckwith-Wiedemann Syndrome (BWS)

She was born with an adult-sized tongue due to the rare condition

Hosts Kate Ritchie, Tim Blackwell and Marty Sheargold were slammed 

The segment has since been deleted, and NOVA has issued an apology

 

Australian radio station NOVA  has come under fire after hosts appeared to poke fun at a baby who was born with an adult-sized tongue due to a rare genetic condition.

The NOVA 96.9 radio hosts, Kate Ritchie, Tim Blackwell and Marty Sheargold, featured a segment on their Friday 14 October show entitled: 'What have you got that's big?'.

In the segment, they discussed the 16-month-old infant, Paisley Morrison-Johnson, from South Dakota, who was in the news earlier this month on account of her struggle with Beckwith-Wiedemann Syndrome - a rare condition which affects one in every 14,000 births.

The 16-month-old toddler recently underwent two rounds of tongue reduction surgery, meaning she can finally eat, breathe, swallow and smile properly.

'I TOO AM ANGRY - I hope this gets shared around all of Melbourne and Australia,' she began the detailed Facebook post.

'Many of you know that my beautiful daughter suffers with a condition called Beckwith-Wiedemann Syndrome (BWS)...

'I would like you to hear the degrading way a beautiful child who is part of my daughter's BWS support group is referred to in this podcast...

'I am appalled at you Kate Ritchie as someone I have followed since my childhood, who is also a mother, that you could make such disgraceful comments about our babies [sic].

'"A comedy act", you say. HOW DARE YOU!!!'.

The angry mother then went on to both explain how her own daughter also had 'life-saving tongue reduction surgery at 24 months old', and wrote:

'Did you know my daughter was also born with her bowel outside of her body because it was also too large??? She is far from a f$73ing [sic] comedy act!!!'.

Ms Whitelaw explained that her daughter, 'along with Paisley that you giggle about, has overcome more adversity and shown more courage in her life than all three of you put together!! 

She said that they would 'not be giggling throughout your podcast' if they were discussing children with Down's Syndrome or Cerebral Palsy.

Ms Whitelaw continued: 'I too have now been confronted with this horrible and cruel podcast designed to get a very cheap laugh at the expense of suffering children. 

'I am disgusted to think that this unempathetic [sic], insulting, uninformed chatter seems to count for entertainment.' 

Ms Whitelaw shared a link beneath her post to the podcast of the Nova 96.9 show, which has since been deleted from the Internet.

However, her post has received more than 200 reactions, comments and shares, as others have weighed in with their similar disgusted reactions.

Another mum, whose son also has the condition, wrote on a thread on babycenter.com.au  

'Kate, Tim and Marty took it upon themselves to spend six minutes of their show making a joke of Paisley and Beckwith-Wiedemann Syndrome. 

'They said things such as 'If you thought your kid was ugly jump on Instagram and look at this', 'its like a comedy act', 'the tongue is a put off'... I know paisleys family, and these comments are not acceptable.' [sic]

Ms Whitelaw later on commented on the post with an official response she received from NOVA, having complained, which read:

'Hi Vanessa, thank you for your time earlier to discuss your complaint. As discussed, I'd like to personally address your complaint regarding the Kate, Tim and Marty show.

'We are aware that during a segment, Kate, Tim and Marty discussed a news story in the US of baby Paisley who has Beckwith-Wiedemann Syndrome. We have reviewed the comments from the audio.

'I understand that the segment was not intended to be a discussion about the syndrome generally but intended to be a light-hearted discussion about a topical news item.

'However, we acknowledge that the comments were ill-considered.'

The representative from NOVA said that he had spoken with the three hosts, who asked to convey their 'sincerest apologies'.

He concluded by saying that: 'I would like to express our sincere regret for any distress caused by the comments'. 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3865602/Mother-slams-Kate-Ritchie-comments-Nova-radio-hosts-regarding-baby-born-adult-sized-tongue.html

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I listen to Kate, Tim & Marty on my drive home from work and have to say I often get incensed listening to them as they are so degrading towards people, espescially their callers. A few weeks ago they were talking about the QV self test breast cream which Kate Ritchie is an ambassador for, and they were making shameful comments about rubbing breasts. I've always admired Kate Ritchie but I'm not impressed by her recent exploits.

[dee123]

6 hours ago, Perry said:

I listen to Kate, Tim & Marty on my drive home from work and have to say I often get incensed listening to them as they are so degrading towards people, espescially their callers. A few weeks ago they were talking about the QV self test breast cream which Kate Ritchie is an ambassador for, and they were making shameful comments about rubbing breasts. I've always admired Kate Ritchie but I'm not impressed by her recent exploits.

Oh dear. I never thought she'd go down the Kyle & Jackie O route. Very disappointed.

[~Lynd~]

People on her Facebook are not impressed.

Unfortunately I can't say I'm surprised.Disappointed but not surprised.

[Inactive User]

Does it sound like that Katie is beginning disrespectful towards disabled people? How would she feel if she was in the shoes of these mothers with their special needs babies/children, eh? 

I had always admired her acting and performance on Home and Away. 

And now after reading this, it made me lose some respect for her at the moment.

Sorry if i sounded harsh to say that, but I hate it when people treat disabled people (like me) like crap and have no respect for them at all.   

[Matt]

I haven't all the facts, but did Kate actually say things about the child or was it Tim and Marty? Because as far as I've heard, people are giving all the criticism to KR and not to the other two hosts. If she wasn't in fact an active participant in the ill-mannered comments, than perhaps people are overreacting. Even then, Kate wasn't the only person in the conversation. Yet, she's copping all the flak. That's what I'm disappointed in. Anyway, whatever happened to freedom of speech?

[samdanfan]

2 hours ago, ~JarlieFanEver~ said:

Does it sound like that Katie is beginning disrespectful towards disabled people? How would she feel if she was in the shoes of these mothers with their special needs babies/children, eh? 

I had always admired her acting and performance on Home and Away. 

And now after reading this, it made me lose some respect for her at the moment.

Sorry if i sounded harsh to say that, but I hate it when people treat disabled people (like me) like crap and have no respect for them at all.   

Sadly stars do say some things Im sure they wished that had not. I Lost respect for some others from the stories I heard  from Sources in Sydney and Melbourne.

This incident is in bad taste and I do think apology in order

[Perry]

2 hours ago, Matt said:

I haven't all the facts, but did Kate actually say things about the child or was it Tim and Marty? Because as far as I've heard, people are giving all the criticism to KR and not to the other two hosts. If she wasn't in fact an active participant in the ill-mannered comments, than perhaps people are overreacting. Even then, Kate wasn't the only person in the conversation. Yet, she's copping all the flak. That's what I'm disappointed in. Anyway, whatever happened to freedom of speech?

All three were making the remarks and all three deserve the flack from their comments, the whole segment stemmed from the "humour" of the child's disability and I don't think it's right to defend their actions. Kate Ritchie is the most known and the more respected of the three so that's why she has copped most of the flack, quite rightly so, I only hope she is sincerely sorry and has learnt from this experience. 

[Luke39]

Not excusing what Kate said. But tbh was that Kyle and Jackie? That show is a circus lol. Like honestly. It is like be like them to the show is over. I am sure Kate did not intentionally mean no harm. But I agree it was ill-advised. Best she make a public apology, and try to learn from it and move on. I mean if this was a serious discussion forum, sure. But she was on a comedy radio show, so it dictates the context. Of course it does not justify what she said, she was short sighted in making those comments. But the forum dictates the content. And of course in this day in age, if you have a public profile you need to be careful what you say. You get so heavily scrutinized these days. 

[dee123]

5 hours ago, Matt said:

I haven't all the facts, but did Kate actually say things about the child or was it Tim and Marty? Because as far as I've heard, people are giving all the criticism to KR and not to the other two hosts. If she wasn't in fact an active participant in the ill-mannered comments, than perhaps people are overreacting. Even then, Kate wasn't the only person in the conversation. Yet, she's copping all the flak. That's what I'm disappointed in. Anyway, whatever happened to freedom of speech?

She's not bound and gagged. She has a voice. If she chooses to sit in the same studio and say nothing she's going to get tarred with the same brush.

[~Lynd~]

7 hours ago, Matt said:

I haven't all the facts, but did Kate actually say things about the child or was it Tim and Marty? Because as far as I've heard, people are giving all the criticism to KR and not to the other two hosts. If she wasn't in fact an active participant in the ill-mannered comments, than perhaps people are overreacting. Even then, Kate wasn't the only person in the conversation. Yet, she's copping all the flak. That's what I'm disappointed in. Anyway, whatever happened to freedom of speech?

Freedom of speech doesn't give you the right to be a bully. Do you have any idea what disabled people and their families go through? Or do you just not care if it doesn't concern you.I do agree she shouldn't be coping all the blame though.