Actor Samuel Johnson appears on Seven's The Morning Show in Australia. Photo / Supplied
Actor Samuel Johnson appears on Seven's The Morning Show in Australia. Photo / Supplied
Samuel Johnson has continued his anti-Molly Meldrum press tour today, slamming the Aussie TV legend in an extraordinary live interview on Seven this morning.
Actor Johnson, who played Meldrum in a 2016 TV miniseries, had previously weighed in on his recent onstage faux-pas in which he mooned the crowd at last week’s Elton John concert.
And Johnson revealed a long-hidden rift with Meldrum, who had stormed the stage when Johnson won the Gold Logie at the 2017 Logie Awards and delivered a rambling, expletive-laden speech.
Appearing on Seven’s The Morning Show today, a visibly emotional Johnson left hosts Larry Emdur and Kylie Gillies stunned as he launched into yet another attack on 79-year-old Meldrum.
“I thought his apology was false,” Johnson, who was on the show to promote his new book, told the hosts of Meldrum’s public apology for exposing himself on stage at John’s concert.
“I don’t believe it was a wardrobe malfunction. I believe that if it was a wardrobe malfunction, we would have seen his underwear, not his bum. For years, I have not said anything. I don’t want to say anything. Who are his minders? Is he OK? He should not be allowed out in the night,” he said.
“If I want to make any sense out of him, I need to see him before midday. Stop, Molly, stop!” Johnson said, appearing close to tears.
The hosts suggested that, given Johnson’s concern, he could pick up the phone and check in with Meldrum.
“No, because I haven’t spoken to him since the Logies, and I’ll never speak to him again. He cost my charity $1 million that night,” said Johnson, whose planned Gold Logie speech calling attention to his Love Your Sister cancer foundation fell by the wayside when Meldrum rushed the stage and delivered a rambling, eight-minute speech of his own.
Samuel Johnson hasn't forgiven Molly Meldrum for ruining his Logies speech in 2017. Photo / Nine
Despite the obvious rift, Johnson said he also owed Meldrum thanks for good deeds in earlier years, explaining he’d known the legendary former Countdown host for 20 years.
“He has helped me out of a legal pickle … he visited my sister in hospital when she was sick with cancer when she was 11 in the 1980s. I am really grateful for everything Molly has done in our lives,” he began, before repeating the message he’d delivered in two separate radio interviews over the past 24 hours.
“But at the same time, when I won the Gold Logie I was about to have my million-dollar moment and I told him specifically not to come on stage. He was not nominated, it was my moment. I wanted to make it about cancer and he wanted to make it about the network. He ended up coming up at the Gold Logies and it was my million-dollar moment gone wrong.”
After the segment aired, entertainment reporter Peter Ford, who also appeared on today’s episode of The Morning Show, tweeted that Johnson had been “very upset after this appearance and worried he’d said too much. But he viewed it as ‘tough love’.”
News.com.au has today contacted Molly Meldrum’s management for comment.
