Australian royal hoax DJ receives top award
WENN.COM
FIRST POSTED: WEDNESDAY, JUNE 05, 2013 03:32 AM EDT | UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, JUNE 05, 2013 03:36 AM EDT
Radio bosses in Australia have come under fire for presenting an award to a DJ who made a prank call to the London hospital treating Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, which was followed by the suicide of a nurse last year.
Michael Christian has been named "top jock" by the Southern Cross Austereo network, six months after he and co-host Mel Greig hit headlines for duping staff at King Edward VII's Hospital into divulging confidential information about the pregnant royal. The joke turned to tragedy when nurse Jacintha Saldanha, who answered the call, was found dead three days later in a suspected suicide.
In a statement, Christian, who scooped a trip to Los Angeles as part of his prize, says, "From the start I felt like I had something to prove to myself. That regardless of all that's happened in the past few months I'm still at the top of my game. So it felt good to see my name at the top of the final leader board."
Australia's Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has spoken out against Christian's win, insisting, "There were some very serious consequences of what was a prank, and to be seen to be awarding people so soon after such an event I think is just in bad taste."
