An ABC employee has made bombshell claims about the infamous ‘nude Zoom’ scandal involving Carrie Bickmore’s TV executive partner Chris Walker.
Walker, the executive producer of comedy show The Weekly with Charlie Pickering, stripped naked in front of shocked ABC staff after he thought he’d left a company Skype call earlier this month.
Speaking to The Herald Sun on Wednesday, the staffer accused senior ABC managers of initially brushing off the gaffe as’ hilarious’ and dismissing employees’ concerns.
Twist: An ABC employee has made bombshell claims about the infamous ‘nude Zoom’ scandal involving Carrie Bickmore’s (right) TV executive partner Chris Walker (left)
The ABC has since offered counseling to staffers who witnessed the incident.
The anonymous staffer also accused the ABC of downplaying the incident because Walker’s production company Thinkative Television is behind some of the public broadcaster’s highest-rating shows, including The Weekly and Hard Quiz.
‘You’re not allowed plastic bottles in the building, but the nude guy is on the screen but that’s hilarious,’ they grumbled.
Not happy: The staffer accused senior ABC managers of initially brushing off the gaffe as’ hilarious’ and dismissing employees’ concerns. (Pictured: Walker and Bickmore)
‘If it was an ABC person they would never be allowed to set foot in the place again.’
Furthermore, the staffer alleged footage of the ‘nude Zoom call’ was still floating around in the ABC archives.
‘Everything that came in was recorded. That call was recorded, there is a technical log, ‘they claimed to the Herald Sun.
‘There is a technical log’: Furthermore, the employee alleged footage of the ‘nude Zoom call’ was still floating around in the ABC archives
The latest revelation comes after Chris accidentally stripped naked in front of shocked ABC staff when he thought he had left a company Skype call, just two weeks ago.
He had been dialing in for a May 17 meeting while on a European holiday with his Gold Logie winning wife.
He wrongly thought he had left the conference when he took off his clothes in front of up to nine people, with the incident lasting between 40 seconds and two minutes, according to the Herald Sun.
Oh dear: The latest revelation comes after Chris accidentally stripped naked in front of shocked ABC staff when he thought he had left a company Skype call, just two weeks ago
The ABC said in a statement Chris was simply getting into the shower.
‘The ABC is acting like a commercial network trying to minimize this incident,’ a television insider said.
‘Staff are shocked that there have been no consequences for his (Mr Walker) actions.’
Mistake: He wrongly thought he had left the conference when he took off his clothes in front of up to nine people, with the incident lasting between 40 seconds and two minutes, according to the Herald Sun
Chris had dialled in while on sabbatical overseas with Carrie, with the naked faux pas occurring during a meeting following rehearsals and before the taping of the program.
ABC said it was ‘aware of an unintentional incident’.
‘The ABC is in regular communication with the relevant team members and are in the process of developing strategies to ensure an incident of this nature does not occur again,’ it said in a statement.
Accident: The production team in charge of The Weekly, Thinkative Television, dismissed the incident as merely ‘unintentional’
‘The ABC has a counseling service available to all ABC employees which has been offered in this instance.’
The production team in charge of The Weekly, Thinkative Television, dismissed the incident as merely ‘unintentional’.
‘It was clearly unintentional and I know the ABC has checked in with their crew about it. There are ongoing discussions about processes to make sure something like this does not happen again, ‘a Thinkative spokesman said.
On their way! Carrie and Chris moved to the UK in April with their children, Oliver, Evie and Adelaide
An insider has meanwhile insisted the ABC isn’t doing enough to support staff after witnessing the incident.
Carrie and Chris moved to the UK in April with their children, Oliver, Evie and Adelaide.
It wasn’t the first time Chris had accidentally exposed himself during a video conference call.
Back in November, The Project host revealed on her Carrie & Tommy radio show that Chris found himself naked in the background of a Zoom call she was doing with other journalists from around the world.
Carrie said she and Chris later laughed about the incident for about 45 minutes.
Whoops: Back in November, The Project host revealed on her Carrie & Tommy radio show that Chris inadvertently found himself naked in the background of a Zoom call with journalists from around the world
Source: | Dailymail.co.uk