Veteran ABC star Phillip Adams, who once tweeted that singer Kamahl was an “honorary target,” hopes to be able to speak uncensored once he retires.
Adams, 84, said in February that he will end his tenure as host of his popular ABC Radio National show Late Night Live in June of this year.
‘One of the good things about leaving ABC is that I will soon be able to tweet without self-censorship. Watch this space,” Adams wrote to X on Wednesday.
Adams, a prominent writer, public intellectual and atheist, forged a 40-year radio career as one of ABC’s most outspoken left-wing personalities.
He was also a long-time supporter of the Labor Party before terminating his membership over the 2010 leadership coup against former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
When former Liberal Prime Minister John Howard was asked to describe what was wrong with the ABC, he replied: “Where’s the right-winger Phillip Adams?”
Outspoken ABC radio host Phillip Adams says he hopes to tweet “uncensored” when he steps away from the ABC later this year (pictured with podcast host Helen Thomas)
In a widely shared tweet posted in 2022, Adams contrasted Bradman’s 13-year friendship with Kamahl with his reluctance to meet former South African president Nelson Mandela.
Adams found himself in hot water in 2022 when he claimed that singer and entertainer Kamahl was treated as an ‘honorary target’ by legendary Australian cricketer Sir Don Bradman.
The saga unfolded when Adams tweeted: ‘Did Bradman refuse to meet Mandela?’ in reference to former South African president and anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela.
That never happened; Mandela visited Sydney in 2000, but Bradman, then 92, was unable to attend and instead sent a gift along with a letter calling him a “champion of humanity.”
Malaysian-born Kamahl was one of the first to criticize Adams for tweeting: “Why do you think Sir Donald Bradman refused to meet Mandela?”
‘Why do you think the greatest ‘athlete’ of all time welcomed me into his home every year from August 1998 until he left us in 2001? He also left me letters that he wrote every year,” Kamahl said.
Adams then responded stunningly, claiming the pair’s friendship was based on Bradman treating Kamahl like an “honorary target.”
‘Clearly, Kamahl, (Bradman) made you an Honorary Target. While one of the most prominent political figures of the 20th century was deemed unworthy of Bradman’s approval,” she wrote in the since-deleted tweet.
In fact, Bradman, while president of the Australian Cricket Board, canceled a 1971-72 tour of Australia by the all-white South African cricket team.
“We will not play them (South Africa) until they choose a team on a non-racist basis,” Bradman said at the time.
Kamahl said he felt “humiliated” by Adam’s response and demanded a public apology.
Kamahl said Phillip Adams is “disgusting” and can’t accept his success. Kamahl with his ex-wife Sahodra, 82, photographed in 2009.
Kamahl said he was proud of his 13-year friendship with Bradman, which began when the singer mentioned the cricket icon’s name in a 1988 song ‘What is Australia to Me?’
Adams was widely criticized for his comment, with Warren Mundine leading the attack, calling his comments “reprehensible”.
‘Phillip Adams, you yourself are ashamed. You should be fired,” Mundine tweeted.
He later added: “Or will white privilege be affected and Phillip Adams get his way?”
ABC CEO David Anderson later asked Kamahl to accept his “sincere apology” for the tweet and also asked Adams to apologize.
Adams emailed an apology to Kamahl, which the singer rejected and asked him to publicly apologize on his radio show.
Adams’ departure coincides with an ABC Radio upgrade that saw commercial executives from Nova and Triple M join.
Adams said he had decided to “go with what’s left of my own efforts.”
Already a prolific Twitter user, Adam’s seems eager to channel some of that steam into even more tweets.
He will take his show on the road for a ‘farewell tour’ before hanging up the headphones in July.
Adams, who once nominated Greta Thunberg for Australian of the Year, will hope to spend more time writing, cultivating hobbies and, of course, tweeting.
ABC issued a statement regarding his departure.
“Adams joined ABC in 1991 when he took the microphone on Late Night Live for Radio National,” the broadcaster said.
‘His characteristic wit and incisive commentary quickly established him as the reference point for sharp analysis of current events and the hottest debates in politics, science, philosophy and the arts.
“Over the past 33 years, he has interviewed thousands of the world’s most influential politicians, historians, archaeologists, novelists, theologians, economists, philosophers and compelling conversationalists.”