Jason Gunn shoots from the lip
HE might be best known for being possibly the smiliest star in the galaxy of Kiwi celebs, but Jason Gunn is all fired up about New Zealand’s obsession with the fame game.
The 53-year-old’s Son of a Gunn show debuted 30 years ago, and he’s rarely strayed far from our screens thanks to McDonald’s Young Entertainers and hosting Dancing with the Stars and Wheel of Fortune – but in an interview with Bridget Jones published on stuff.co.nz today, he doesn’t pull his punches when it comes to celebrity culture.
‘‘Being on television or radio, it’s not a necessity. We could all stop and it would all go away and no-one would care,’’ he says. ‘‘It’s like, whoop-de-woo.
We’re not nurses.
We’re not teachers. You know, we’re not counsellors.
We’re nothing really.’’
He and wife
Janine MorellGunn are the brains behind
WhitebaitMedia, which creates much-loved kids’ TV shows such as What Now and Darwin and Newt. But apart from his kids TV and his upbeat social media presense, since recovering from a 2017 heart attack he is happy to be away from the traditional media such as the radio shows he used to host.
‘‘My head explodes when I see some people, some broadcasters, and they’re always on Instagram giving away s…. They’re influencers,’’ he says. ‘‘And what the f… does that word mean, by the way? Oh that’s right, you’ve somehow managed to make it all about you, and all you’re doing is giving away stuff. You are allowed to do that sometimes, but every now and then why don’t you share some of that stuff with your mates? Oh that’s right, they’re not your mates, are they?’’
Seems like this Gunn ain’t for hire any
more!