The Australian TV reporter who failed to listen to Adele’s new album before an interview with the singer has said sorry for the “terrible mistake”A lengthy apology is made live on air.
Matt Doran stated that he had received “a torrent of abuse and mockery”He apologized for the mistake, however, he “deserved”The “bulk of this savaging”. He also said that he had “insulted”The singer apologized to her fans for the error and offered to apologise to them.
Doran, a Channel Seven journalist, traveled 10,000 miles from Sydney to London in November to interview Adele over her album. 30 , only to admit to the hitmaker that he hadn’t actually listened to the record. Despite the 30-minute interview being filmed, Adele’s label Sony denied Channel Seven permission to air it.
Speaking during a monologue on Seven’s Weekend SunriseDolan announced the following: “I want to address something that’s made headlines this week and something I’d like to apologise for.
“This is a story that has sparked a torrent of abuse and mockery from around the world and, if I’m being honest with you, the bulk of this savaging I deserve and I totally own.”
Doran stated that it was an “unspeakable privilege”Adele was interviewed and it was to be “one of the highlights of his career”However, he was unaware that an email contained a link for a pre-release copy of the album.
“I made the terrible mistake of assuming we weren’t to be given a preview copy of this album because our interview was airing before it was released and Adele’s album was the industry’s most prized secret,”He continued.
“The day after we landed in London an email came through from Sony, it didn’t mention Adele but it did contain a link to her album.
“The genuine, deadset, hand on heart truth is that I missed it. By an absurdly long margin the most important email I’ve ever missed in my life.”
Doran went on to reject claims that Adele walked out of the interview upon learning he hadn’t listened to the album.
He described the singer’s voice as “loud and beautiful.” “profound” “funny” “honest” “raw”, adding: “We spoke about of the paradox that is being the world’s most famous artist but hating fame, we also discussed at length the concept of pure artistry, the majesty of Adele’s voice, what it must be like to hear that sound come out of one’s own mouth.
“How go Easy On Me was conceived in part by singing acapella in the shower, and how the album helped repair her relationship towards the end with her now late father,”
He also added: “But all that doesn’t matter because, by missing the album link, however I might try to justify it, I’ve insulted Adele.
“To Adele I say, I’ve never knowingly disrespected you by deliberately not listening to your work. I am so sorry.
“I also apologise to Adele’s Australian fans and to you, our viewers, who through my error have been denied this interview and the insight to her character.”
Channel Seven had been the only outlet in Australia to get a sit-down interview with the star and it was said to be part of a package deal costing £539,065 (nearly $1m AUD) which also gave the network right to CBC TV special Adele: One Night Only
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As a result there had been backlash from Adele fans, music lovers and fellow journalists over Doran’s error.
Others saw the funny side to the situation, with some comparing Doran’s interview to the improvised press junket interview in rom-com film Notting Hill where Hugh Grant’s character William Thacker has to do to talk to actress Anna Scott (Julia Roberts), where he pretends to be from magazine The Horse and Hound and has no idea what Scott’s movie is about.
On top of all this, Doran wasn’t the only Matt Doran who has been received flack over his inaction.
A coincidence of fate has resulted in a flood of criticism tweets directed at an ABC political reporter whose name is the same as his was flooded by people mistakenly believing he was the Weekend Sunrise host.
Although he seemed to take all the confusion in stride, he joked and tweeted an appropriate Adele line: “Go easy on me…”
However, not everyone gets the joke…
Indy100For comment, Adele contacted Channel Seven and Sony.