Australian broadcaster Kate Langbroek has apologised to Waleed Aly after a joke went wrong.
The Project host appeared on Langbroek’s KIIS Network radio show 3pm Pick-Up with co-host Monty Dimond when she tried a joke on him.
Langbroek explained that she wanted to tell Aly a joke that she shared earlier with her son Jannie which she then revealed “didn’t seem to go over so well”.
She thought the pair were “having a high-spirited, fun conversation”, but the joke insulted the TV host.
“As a lawyer, your personality is an asset. If you weren’t a lawyer, your personality would be a liability,” is what Langbroek told Aly.
Aly had in fact trained and worked as a lawyer before his career in the media which has since seen him step aside from the law.
He claimed that the incident occurred while he was in the make-up chair which Langbroek disputed saying he would “tease out the details”.
“You know what he’s like with his ‘fine mind’, he’s always got to tease out details and find the hole in the colander!” she continued.
“Waleed and I were having a conversation about something I had not quite thought through, and he was acting intrigued by my train of thought.
“He was asking me so many questions, and I said – ‘I’m going to say to you what I said to Jannie’.”
Langbroek confessed that she thought her joke was an “adorable thing to say” but didn’t realise that Aly would be offended by it.
“I remember immediately conveying that I was offended because I just thought, hang on, you are saying that in most contexts that people live and the context in which I currently live, my personality is a liability,” Aly said.
He also reminded Langbroek that he hadn’t practised law in years to which she responded, “Well mate, I’ve got some bad news for your personality”.
This led to Langbroek offering a full apology to Aly on air, reiterating her respect for him.
“I’d be devastated if you thought I had anything other than a very hard-won respect and love for you. I am extremely sorry,” she said.
“The obvious meaning to be attributed to your words was offensive. There was no mental gymnastics to get to that point,” he told her.
“Anyway, the love is entirely mutual and I want you to know, I would not regard your personality as a liability under any circumstance.”
Image: KIIS
This article first appeared on OverSixty.