A routine staff meeting to introduce new appointments at Seven West has been compared to something out of the 1980s after a group of “sexy Santas” began singing and dancing.
Seven West Media held a meeting at Perth Town Hall on Friday where its WA CEO Maryna Fewster announced Chris Dore as the new editor-in-chief of The West Australian.
Other major announcements included the appointment of Sarah-Jane Tasker as editor and Adrian Lowe as director of the Sunday Times weekend newspaper.
They are the first female and first female LGBT editors to receive awards, respectively.
As deputy news director Ray Kuka announced what he had planned for the network, including broadcasting the Washington Christmas Festival on Dec. 7, Mariah Carey’s holiday anthem, “All I Want for Christmas,” began to blare.
Then a group of scantily clad dancers, wearing Santa hats and short red dresses, made their way onto the stage.
A photo shared online from the event sparked massive criticism, with one commenter comparing the dancers to “dirty elves.” Australian financial magazine reported.
Female staff watching the show are said to have been left “shocked and horrified” by the bizarre scene, which came at a time when the network has been in the spotlight for inappropriate behaviour.
A Seven West Media gathering on Friday featured a performance by scantily clad Christmas dancers (pictured)
Seven Network has come under fire for its alleged “inappropriate” work culture with the recent sacking of Robert Ovadia highlighting alleged mistreatment of female staff.
“My goodness, if they thought that was even remotely appropriate given everything we’ve discovered about them, the cultural makeup of that organization is seriously flawed,” one commenter wrote.
Another added: “How is this real?!”
A third wrote: “This will help address the cultural issues that have been uncovered.”
A Seven spokesperson told the publication the dancers were part of the Christmas Festival, which is considered a “Perth institution”, but many questioned whether the performance was appropriate for a lunchtime gathering.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Seven for further comment.
The controversial meeting comes just weeks after veteran Sydney reporter Robert Ovadia launched legal action in the Federal Court against the network.
Ovadia was removed from his post on June 21 following an investigation into allegations of inappropriate behavior.
The performance overshadowed CEO Jeff Howard’s (pictured) announcement of the company’s first-ever LGBTQ+ female editors and publishers.
Those allegations include lewd messages to a female colleague and sending Photoshopped photos of a female coworker as a “pole dancer; wearing a catsuit; brandishing a whip; sitting on a cocktail glass” at Four Corners.
Ryan Stokes, chief executive of Seven Group Holdings Ltd, recently described inappropriate behaviour in the media as an “industry-wide problem”.
He made the comments in reference to allegations against Nine Entertainment of mistreatment of women and the ABC investigation into racism directed at staff.
Stokes said it was “It is disappointing that there is a perception that inappropriate behaviour was tolerated at Seven because ‘we do not tolerate any inappropriate behaviour’.”
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