Who walks into an exclusive interview with a world famous musician without listening to their album? Sunrise host, Matt Doran apparently.
It was reported widely yesterday that the breakfast TV anchor was suspended for two weeks from Sunrise after royally botching an interview with pop singer Adele, in which he failed to listen to or adequately acknowledge her recently released album, 30.
Allegedly, Adele asked Doran what he had thought of her latest work, only to be met with the response: “I haven’t listened to it.”
While news outlets claim the singer was so affronted by Doran’s reply that she walked out of the $1 million interview, brokered by Channel 7 including broadcast rights to Oprah Winfrey’s One Night Only interview and concert, Doran claimed it was the “polar opposite”.
“What was meant to be 20 minutes was extended to 29 minutes. The majority of the chat was about the album,” he said.
However, Doran’s suggestions countered reality. The interview was recorded, but Adele’s label Sony reportedly denied Channel 7 rights to air any portion of it.
Despite his earlier suggestion that the interview had actually been a success, Doran contradicted himself, telling The Australian he was “mortified and unequivocally apologetic”.
He had been sent an e-copy of Adele’s new album but “somehow missed” it during his flight to London.
“When I sat down to interview Adele, I was totally unaware that I’d been emailed a preview of her unreleased album,” he said.
“I have since discovered it was sent to me as an ‘e card’ link, which I somehow missed upon landing in London. It was an oversight but NOT a deliberate snub. This is the most important email I have ever missed.”
While Adele is yet to formally speak about the issue, a statement she tweeted yesterday points to her disgruntlement.
“We don’t create albums with so much care and thought into our track listing for no reason. Our art tells a story and our stories should be listened to as we intended.”
While mistakes happen, it’s baffling to think they could happen like this.
Matt Doran has years of experience under his belt. He has executed countless high profile, celebrity interviews… and yet, he clearly was not prepared for this one.
It also begs the reasonable question of whether he would have felt comfortable dismissing a famous male musician in the same way? Would he have felt comfortable telling Kanye he hadn’t listened to Donda?
I doubt it.
There are thousands upon thousands of highly qualified, talented reporters waiting in the wings who would kill for Matt Doran’s position. The fact that he thought it was reasonable to rock up to an interview with one of the world’s most influential women, and fail to ask her about her work, is reason enough to give one of these other young hopefuls a chance.
This is privilege personified.