KIIS FM Fires Krista Thomas For ‘Being Too Opinionated For a Woman’ – Report
KIIS FM newsreader Krista Thomas was reportedly fired from the radio station because she is “too opinionated for a woman.” The 26-year-old journalist was promised a job for 2015, but was instead fired two weeks before Christmas.
Thomas found herself without a job from the ratings-hit “Kyle and Jackie O” breakfast show in December because apparently, listeners don’t like to hear a woman who is “strong and opinionated.” Although she was reportedly already careful of what she said in the show, she was still given the boot.
“I feel I built up quite a rapport with listeners over the year so it is disappointing and I’m sad to leave,” she told Confidential. She cleared, though, that while she didn’t always agree with host Kyle Sandilands on air, she knew that the controversial radio jock had nothing to do with her being fired.
“I went up against Kyle quite a bit but it was all in fun,” she confided. “This came from management, not Kyle. Sometimes management makes decisions that are hard to understand but I am incredibly grateful for the opportunities that Kyle and Jackie O provided me over the past year.”
Thomas has been replaced by male newsreader Brooklyn Ross. KIIS parent company ARN refused to comment when asked by Confidential.
This isn’t the first time the station, or even the breakfast show, has been subjected to sexism claims. In August, Channel Nine sports reporter Erin Molan quit the show after she was given derogatory questions by listeners who called in the show. She was asked if she had a “boob job” by the first caller, then another wanted to know how many sports personalities have she slept with. She was also asked if she had dated cricketer Moises Henriques, Thomas’ boyfriend.
Molan calmly refused to answer the seemingly sexist queries, even managing to laugh with the hosts over how the questioning was going. However, she quit the show on air after taking the questions. She promised she would be back to talk about sports, though.
A rep for KIIS FM denied to Daily Mail Australia that Molan left because she was asked those questions. The spokesperson explained that Molan’s full schedule prevented her from continuing working on the radio.