The Logies: Welcome Return or Controversial Nightmare?
The 62nd annual Logies Awards was certainly an eventful night in television after 2 years of cancelled events, keeping public relations professionals like us on our toes! From Lisa Wilkinson’s infamous speech sparking a court trial to be postponed to the MAFS cast being barred from the ballroom, it was truly a huge night in the world of PR.
Lisa Wilkinson’s acceptance speech has been the major talking point to come out of the night, after Brittany Higgin’s rape trial was postponed following her comments regarding who was guilty and innocent. She won the award for Most Outstanding News Coverage or Public Affairs Report for her reporting on the Higgins case in 2021.
It’s now been revealed Lisa had been warned by prosecutors prior to her speech that she shouldn’t make any public statements. ACT Chief Justice, Lucy McCallum, has since made the decision to postpone the case from June 27 until October 4, claiming that the line between allegation and guilt had been obliterated as Lisa sparked a reignition of publicity for the case.
Lisa was then nowhere to be seen on The Project on Thursday night following the blunder, and promptly disabled her Instagram comments, leading many of the public to lash out on her Twitter and Facebook instead. Network 10 also scrambled to stifle any further backlash, continuing to support Lisa.
Switching gears, the Married At First Sight cast came under fire from other members of the show as information leaked that producers allegedly only invited select stars including Domenica Calarco, Brent Vitiello, Jack Millar, Selina Chhaur, Dion Giannarelli, Ella Ding and Al Perkins into the A-list ballroom. Former “villains” of last season, including Olivia Frazer and Jackson Lonie, have alleged favouritism by MAFS producers.
A source has allegedly claimed that only those with the biggest social followings were invited, and that the producers didn’t want to tarnish MAFS’ already tumultuous reputation by introducing any further conflict to the event.
But of course, there was always going to be some kind of drama! Domenica Calarco has now claimed on radio show, Hot Nights with Abbie Chatfield, that the cast were kicked out of the Logies ballroom and ushered into another viewing room which is where the partners and guests of the A-list Australian celebrities are sat.
Calarco suspected that they were put in the other room to avoid drama; only being allowed into the ballroom when their category, Most Popular Reality Program, was called before being ushered away again.
And that’s a wrap! The Logies was drama-filled, and has kept the media talking almost a full week later. I think we’ve well and truly made up for the 2 year gap in coverage.
By Isobel Goodwin-Moore – PR & Influencer Coordinator at InsideOut PR and #AsSeenOn
