‘I’M NO DIRTY DON’
BURKE REJECTS SEXUAL HARASSMENT CLAIMS
FALLEN star Don Burke, his reputation in tatters over claims of sexual harassment and bullying, admitted last night he wasn’t a good person.
The former host of Burke’s Backyard told A Current Affair he had had multiple affairs and “there are things I have done that I’m not proud of”.
But in a often rambling interview with Nine’s Tracy Grimshaw, he continued to dismiss the worst of the sexual allegations, and to claim that he was the victim of a witch hunt.
“Although I felt we did have a happy office there are people who … clearly don’t like me. They can’t all be wrong.” He said some of his staff might have come to the view “that I wasn’t a nice person”.
“Towards the end I don’t think I was a very good person. Burke’s Backyard … was … on for 18 years, and coming to the end of its run. I mean, it didn’t seem to me at the time, but I must have been a bear with a bloody sore head.” He said: “Towards the end I wasn’t a nice person.”
He acknowledged he had made enemies but rejected the bulk of the allegations put to him by Grimshaw.
He also blamed his behaviour on Asperger’s syndrome, which he claimed to have self-diagnosed.
“I’ve got a lot of failings but I am not that man,” Burke insisted.
“A number of the claims are things that I would never say. Some of those things I’m supposed to have said are absolutely despicable. No person should say that to another person. The things that I’m supposed to have said I did not say.”
Insiders at Nine say the network kept a secret dossier on Burke’s sexual harassment and bullying.
At the peak of his success, concerns about the gardening guru’s behaviour were the talk of the network, allegedly prompting his bosses to keep a record of his offences.
A high-ranking Nine insider said the “Burke problem” was common knowledge.
“But because the show was made by Don’s own production company it was very hard to do anything about it,” the source said.
“We all knew he was completely disgusting. He was degrading. And he was offensive to men and women. There was even a file on what he had done. But it was never treated like any big scandal; it was more just one of the downsides of working with Don.”
Allegations emerged yesterday that Burke was a “psychotic bully”, a “misogynist” and a “sexual predator” who sexually harassed and bullied a number of female employees including groping their breasts.
As the crisis erupted yesterday, more damning claims emerged: ACTOR and singer Tottie Goldsmith claimed Burke refused to stop using foul language around her daughter, 7. VIDEO emerged of Burke saying he likes a good f--- and asked a guest whether her breasts were real. IN a detailed statement Burke denied each allegation of inappropriate behaviour, claiming staff could vouch for him and saying he was “deeply hurt and outraged at the false and defamatory claims”. COMPANIES associated with Burke scrambled to distance themselves from his production business. SEVERAL of Burke’s former colleagues listed a series of damaging allegations against him, including inappropriate jokes and harassment.
Former Nine news boss Peter Meakin claimed yesterday the extent of the alleged sexual misconduct by Burke had come as a surprise.
He said the foul-mouthed host had “probably” been spoken to by senior Nine executives in the early 1990s about the “high-handed” way he treated staff.
“As far as being bullied, 20 years ago, there was bullying from the top to the bottom,” Meakin said. “Don Burke was undoubtedly valuable to Nine but he was not untouchable. I believe on the balance of probabilities that someone did speak to him about his conduct then.”