Sam Newman controversies

Sam Newman is an Australian media personality who stars in the AFL Footy Show. He has created much public controversy.

His antics have included:
* Having his chauffeur reverse his car into Trevor Marmalade's bar, destroying it.
* Wearing blackface after Aboriginal player Nicky Winmar did not appear as scheduled on that night's program due to car trouble.
* Publicly humiliating his teenage son in the 1997 grand final special for being a fan of the Adelaide Crows (Newman played for Geelong).
* Hitting David Schwarz in the face with a pie and being violently pushed by him afterwards.
* Getting punched in the stomach by Shane Crawford.
* Having his trousers pulled down by Crawford, exposing his genitals live to air.
* Exposing his genitals to the camera after stripping a la "The Full Monty" live to air.
* Drinking a full bottle of Jim Beam over the length of a show.
* Spraying Shane Crawford with a fire extinguisher after Crawford interrupted Sam's Mailbag.
* Getting sprayed with a fire extinguisher by Shane Crawford after he started discussing a newspaper article about model fire engines. Sam was later showed showering, returning towards the end of the show in a dressing gown.
* Antagonising guest panel member Jason Dunstall in a "Back to the 80's" special when Dunstall refused to show up in a retro outfit.
* Referring to James Brayshaw as dressing like a "girl".
* Chasing Shane Crawford with clear violent intent after Crawford appeared to draw on an Archibald Prize-entered portrait of Newman. It was later revealed to be a fake, much to the relief of the artist (and Newman).
* Undergoing a "nappy change" by Shane Crawford and Brendan Fevola, when Shane was disgruntled about comments Sam made about him not being a good father. He ended up being covered in talcum powder, and his underwear was doused with water.
* Annoying co-host Garry Lyon by repetitively showing Lyon writhing in pain on a stretcher after having broken his leg. The clip has aired many times, including being shown on a blimp outside the 2006 Grand Final edition of the show.
* Trying to simulate sex in a fake airplane toilet (due to the incident between Ralph Fiennes and former Qantas air hostess Lisa Robertson) noting how hard it would be to join the 'mile-high' club. The 'segment' first saw Sam try to "bonk" a mannequin and then a male midget dressed as an air hostess.
* Starting a 'fake' campaign to "bring the footy home" (back to Channel 9 from Channel 7) as he, believed that Channel 7's coverage of AFL games to be "absolutely shocking". Sam had badges and banners to aid his campaign, although he failed miserably in 'raising' funds.
* Being sprayed with a super soaker by Brendan Fevola.
* Constantly referring to Fevola's poor behaviour on field, which lead to Fevola to throw a fake (albeit real-looking) snake at Sam. Believing it to be real, Sam fled from his seat (to the audience's delight).
* Annoying guest panelist Jason Dunstall by referring to him as "Uganda's National Symbol" (the Silver Back Gorilla).
* Saying to panel member and Collingwood captain Nathan Buckley that "not even Moses could part her legs", in reference to his new wife, Tania.
* When a woman came up to him on "Street Talk" and told him how attractive he was, he simply replied: "well at least one of us is".
* Getting involved in a struggle with Jonothan Brown and Shane Crawford on air, where Brown lifted Newman and threw him into his 'Street Talk' Hall of Fame board, while Shane threw bottles of water at him. Later, Brown smashed one of the pictures from the board over Newman's head. Sam later retaliated by using a ladder to ram Brown out of his chair. Moderatley successful in his efforts, Sam took refuge behind co-host Garry Lyon.
* Pretending to star in a phone sex ad wearing the bottom half of a gorilla costume, directed at Jason Dunstall. The next week featured Sam trying to contact 'The Chief' on air to persuade him to come on the show, resulting in The Chief hanging up on Sam several times
* Mocking television personality and The Age writer Caroline Wilson regarding how she was dressed on Footy Classified three days earlier by bringing a mannequin model onto stage and stapling a cardboard cut-out of Wilson on the face of the model and 'experimenting' with different outfits. Newman then recklessly moved the model about. [cite episode | title = Round 3 Preview | episodelink = | series = The Footy Show | serieslink = The AFL Footy Show | airdate = 2008-04-03 | season = 15| number = 4 ] Wilson brought the issue up on Footy Classifed the following Monday, telling of her disappointment to both Wilson's and Newman's co-star Garry Lyon. [cite episode | title = Round 3 Review | episodelink = | series = Footy Classified | serieslink = Footy Classified | airdate = 2008-04-07 | season = 3 | number = 4 ]
* Celebrating the 20th anniversary of Garry Lyon's broken leg incident at Whitten Oval, which led to the infamous "stretcher vision"
* Constantly replaying a street brawl between two females and getting a shopping hook thrown at him during street talk in Perth.
* Colouring in Craig Hutchison's bald head with a black marker, then the following week rubbing black boot polish on his head.

Reports indicate that Newman is deliberately controversial, and that his on-air persona is nothing like his true self. [ [http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/story/0,26278,23791860-10229,00.html Eddie McGuire's plea to Sam Newman | NEWS.com.au Entertainment ] ]

On May 29, 2008, following the abovementioned incident in relation to Caroline Wilson and the severe backlash that it generated, Sam Newman was forced by the Nine Network to 'rest' from the show, ostensibly to recover from recent surgery.

References