Karl Stefanovic has thrown his support behind Channel Seven’s Natalie Barr ahead of the 2026 Logie Awards.
The former Channel Nine golden boy and Logie nominee for the Ray Martin Award for Most Popular News or Public Affairs Presenter let his feelings be known after his mate Kyle Sandilands’ pointed attack on the Sunrise host.
‘So I think Nat Barr should get the nomination in my place,’ Stefanovic told news.com.au on his 52nd birthday on Wednesday.
‘The woman is brilliant. And has been for years. She deserves to be in that company,’ he continued.
The former Today show star’s surprise endorsement comes after he sensationally parted ways with Channel Nine in June following his controversial interview with British far-right activist Tommy Robinson, and Sandilands’ coarse takedown of Barr.
Sandilands attacked Barr’s appearance on his new show, Kyle Sandilands Live, on Tuesday following his confrontational interview with the Sunrise host a week ago.
Karl Stefanovic (pictured) has thrown his support behind Channel Seven’s Natalie Barr ahead of the 2026 Logie Awards where he is nominated for the Ray Martin Award for Most Popular News or Public Affairs Presenter
‘So I think Nat Barr should get the nomination in my place,’ Stefanovic said on his 52nd birthday on Wednesday. ‘The woman is brilliant. And has been for years. She deserves to be in that company,’ he continued
Barr put Sandilands on the spot when she asked him if he ‘would be happy’ for his son Otto, three, to listen to his Kyle and Jackie O Show broadcasts when he’s older.
‘Yeah, I don’t care. Have you ever heard the show?’ he hit back.
‘I know you’re on at the same time, but I think you have a dramatised imagination of what the show was.’
She further grilled him: ‘Over the years, you’ve been criticised for comments you’ve made about women, jokes about disability, remarks about the Holocaust, broadcasting private conversations.
‘When you look back, which I’m sure you have in the last few weeks, what do you genuinely regret? If anything.’
‘It’s not really a regret,’ Sandilands responded.
‘A lot of these things have been perceived to have been bad. Some are genuinely bad or mistakes or stupid things that I’ve said.
‘Other things can be twisted once it gets to AM radio and the whole narrative, the reality of what things are changes when it gets to talk back.
Barr put Sandilands on the spot when she asked him if he ‘would be happy’ for his son Otto, three, to listen to his Kyle and Jackie O Show broadcasts when he’s older (Pictured with co-host Matt Shirvington)
‘Yeah, I don’t care. Have you ever heard the show?’ he hit back. ‘I know you’re on at the same time, but I think you have a dramatised imagination of what the show was’
‘They sort of take away all the joining words to make it sound more dramatic. Sometimes it’s fake. Sometimes it’s real. But I just take it as a learning lesson.’
‘That’s all I do. You take, you learn, you realise who you’ve offended. You realise what you’ve said and why it was offensive.
‘Then you just get back up the next day and keep working. I’m certainly not having conversations with myself in the mirror or big reflections.
‘That’s what I do. I’ve done it for 35 years, and more often than not, some things do offend people. But [The Kyle & Jackie O Show] was really a comedy show.’
‘They’re really just jokes,’ he added.
Following the encounter, Sandilands made a crude comment about Barr’s appearance on his new show Kyle Sandilands Live
Following the encounter, Sandilands made a crude comment about Barr’s appearance on his new show.
Sandilands said he had considered responding to Barr with criticisms about her physical appearance during the interview, but refrained out of ‘respect for women’.
‘You know what I was going to say – but I didn’t, because I have respect for women?’ Sandilands began.
‘I was going to say, “It’s strange you’re bringing up my son when you’re sitting here with these scaly legs that clearly need some sort of Palmer’s Butter put on them.”
