Kim Williams is once again under fire for his relationship with ‘Austen Tayshus’ after the comedian name-dropped the ABC chairman while telling a popular podcaster to ‘shut up’.
Gutman, whose real name is Sandy Gutman, recently took exception to a column by podcaster and former ABC radio host Josh Szeps about the war in Gaza.
Mr Szeps, who is Jewish, had questioned the actions of the Israeli government in the conflict, and concluded it was ‘time for Jews to abandon Israel’.
The piece led Gutman, who is also Jewish, to send a series of texts to Mr Szeps, which were later shared with 2GB radio on Friday.
‘I know you need attention and you made several reasonable points, but what does it achieve to slam Israel right now?’ the 71-year-old wrote in one message.
‘…the thing is you need to shut up instead of sharing your profound, mostly rehashed views, because in reality you are empowering murderers and arsonists to attack us.’
Gutman signed off the text as ‘Austen Tayshus. Difficult conversationalist and mate of Kim Williams’.
Mr Szeps replied to the message, saying, ‘Hello mate. I’m a fan. Saw you when I was a kid… I suspect you’re not proud of telling me to shut up and I don’t think you’ll end up particularly proud of that message. So I won’t take the bait. Peace.’
Gutman responded, telling Szeps, ‘You can sleep well. Just shut up, keep these opinions to yourself at this dangerous moment’.
Mr Williams was quick to distance himself from Gutman after the texts came to light.
‘Sandy Gutman is not and never has been a friend of mine. I find the comment disgraceful’ he said in a statement.
And it’s not the first time Mr Williams’ relationship with the comedian has come under scrutiny.
In April, Media Watch took aim at the ABC chairman for allegedly pressuring local radio stations to promote Gutman’s comedy shows.
It was claimed that Gutman had phoned Mr Williams in August last year to complain about being repeatedly denied interviews with regional ABC radio stations.
Mr Williams reportedly interceded on Mr Gutman’s behalf, and he was subsequently interviewed multiple times to promote his shows.
In one email, Mr Williams said of Mr Gutman: ‘I am of course essentially on his side. Our people are often arrogant with talent’.
Mr Gutman was also accused of attempting to leverage his relationship with Mr Williams several times during his press tour, writing in an email to a regional ABC office: ‘No response. I will speak to Kim Williams today’.
The comedian told Daily Mail on Friday he had name-dropped Mr Williams at the end of his message to Mr Szeps as a joke.
‘I was joking, I was being ironic. That was just a reference to the Media Watch thing, which was completely blown out of proportion,’ he said.
Asked about his relationship with Mr Williams, the comedian said: ‘I’m not mates with him, I don’t hang out with him’.
Though the pair were ‘from the same era’ and might have met when the entertainer was ‘really flying high in the 80s,’ he had no memory of it.
He regretted the negative attention Mr Williams had received over their acquaintance.
‘Kim is just helping getting entertainment in regional New South Wales, what is terrible about that?’ he said.
He also defended his critique of Mr Szeps’ column.
‘My point is nobody really knows what’s going on in Gaza because all the information’s coming from Hamas, and Hamas is a registered terrorist organisation around the world.
‘I don’t think it’s in his interest to criticise Israel based on the lack of information.’