Sean Plunket Responds To Reports That His Future At Magic Talk Is Uncertain

Controversial radio host Sean Plunket says he is still a MediaWorks employee amid reports that his future at the company’s Magic Talk station is uncertain.

The talkback host may not be returning to his usual spot and management was in “crisis talks” after former host John Banks endorsed the views of an interlocutor who described Maori as “people of the stone age with a stone age culture, “Stuff reported.

Banks, a former Auckland mayor, was taken off the air and MediaWorks CEO Cam Wallace said Banks would never get another job at the station while he was in charge.

Plunket was not an announcer in that segment.

Stuff reported that Plunket had been asked not to return to the station, but that he could fight.

Plunket told the Herald that he was still employed by the company, but declined to comment further.

A MediaWorks spokeswoman said she could not discuss individual employment issues.

Plunket presents the Magic Afternoons show with Sean Plunket on weekdays from noon to 4 pm.

In December, the Broadcasting Standards Authority reprimanded MediaWorks after a Plunket interview on May 6 with Te Whānau ā Apanui spokesperson Louis Rapihana at Covid-19 checkpoints.

The BSA said the interview amplified negative stereotypes about Maori and had the potential to cause widespread harm.

At the time, MediaWorks said it accepted the BSA’s decision.

“[We] I understand that comments made during this live broadcast could have caused distress, and for that we apologize. “