Radio show behind royal hoax phone call gets axed

2 Day FM radio presenters Mel Greig, left, and Michael Christian. / AP Photo/AAP Image, Southern Cross Austereo Sydney

It's official. The Australian radio show behind a hoax phone call to the London hospital where the pregnant Duchess of Cambridge was being treated has been canceled.

• Prank call radio hosts apologize, "shattered" over apparent nurse suicide
• Royal hoax suicide: New details around nurse death revealed

The show and the two DJs behind the prank in December were widely condemned after the death of a nurse who answered the phone and helped the DJs access confidential information about the former Kate Middleton's health.

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Family of nurse involved in royal hoax speaks

The "Hot 30" program was taken off air following the death of the nurse, Jacintha Saldanha, and the Australian Associated Press reported Monday that Southern Cross Austereo, the parent company of radio station 2DayFM, announced the program had been formerly canceled.

The AAP quoted Southern Cross Austereo Chief Executive Rhys Holleran as saying DJs Michael Christian and Mel Greig will go back on the air.

"We look forward to Mel and MC returning to work when the time is right, in roles that make full use of their talents," Holleran said in a statement Monday.

The DJs impersonated Queen Elizabeth II and her son, Prince Charles, as they phoned London's King Edward VII hospital in the early hours of Dec. 4, to ask about the condition of the Duchess of Cambridge, who had been hospitalized there after suffering from severe morning sickness.

The DJs' shaky upper-crust accents were apparently enough to fool Saldanha, who put them through to a colleague who in turn described the details of Kate's condition.

The call went viral and was broadcast the world over. But the incident took a darker turn after Saldanha's body was found hanging in her room three days after the prank. It was an apparent suicide that many have assumed was related to the stress from the call.

Greig and Christian apologized in emotional interviews on Australian television, saying they never expected their call would be put through.

[NMTeach]

I cannot believe the amount of hype given to this story. Of course it is horrible that any person would commit suicide, but the DJs didn't do anything wrong. Listen to the audio on youtube. The woman answered the phone, said less than 5 words, and passed them on to someone else. The DJs played a phone prank that was ten times better than other radio show pranks (remember the Jerky Boys?). They didn't use profanity, weren't aggressive, or provoke the person on the phone. They were just 2 people with horrible accents asking about Middleton. They do not deserve to lose their jobs or be punished in any way. Do radio (and hospital) policies need to change? Perhaps, but I don't think so. It was just a simple prank that was an excuse for someone to end their life. Sad, but the only person to blame is the person who committed suicide.

[Jonseen]

Very, very INNOCENT?? Oy. I wouldn't want to be one of your friends!!

[AndrewinFargo]

there are much worse prank calls out there. The call wasn't harassing, it wasn't rude, crude or lewd. The prank was very innocent. Sometimes things backfire though. I don't blame the DJ's one bit for the nurses actions.

[devs95]

It wasn't the first time the nurse tried to kill herself. She had previous failed attempts. She was an unstable person. Not only that but the radio stations legal team approved the bit. I'm so sick of the PC crap that goes on in this world. So many companies willing to throw anyone under the bus that they can to make a buck.

[fasteddieNY]

these 2 DJ's certainly don't deserve to be fired. Sadly, the nurse committed suicide but their must have been other factors. All the dj's were
trying to do (and certainly there intent) was to be funny and be practical jokers. Shame on the radio station for not having a set of balls!

[opedanderson2]

Suicide is rarely for one reason. The nurse clearly had issues. That changes nothing.

The radio station has to take responsibility to exposing people to international humiliation and potentially doing it to someone who will not be able to handle it.

[Jonseen]

OPEDANDERSON2, I agree with you. For one thing, I don't think it was a funny prank. Having worked in a hospital, I thought their trick was horrible. I would not want to be involved in somebody's prank like that. The nurses involved could have been subject to legal action for divulging personal information, but on the other hand it's easy to see how they might be intimidated by what (they thought) was a phone call from the Queen.

When I imagine myself in their place, and how those nurses must have felt; I am completely disgusted with what the DJ's did. I wouldn't have been suicidal but I would have been VERY upset, and concerned for my job.

So how much HUMOR is there in this joke, then? I don't see any humor at all.

[NeoGraphix00]

Didn't the investigators find out that it was the pressure from the hospital staff that contributed to her commiting suicide and not the DJs?

[Jonseen]

I hadn't heard that, but I have wondered if the hospital did anything to make it worse for her. There hasn't been anything said about it that I know of. Maybe in the UK papers.

I don't think that would absolve the DJ's though, IMO, even if it were true. They set up the situation.

[newtongenius]

That'll teach y'all for being a bunch of half-wit Royalists. Everyone gets the blame for paying any attention or being involved in any way with the Monarchist garbage except the poor nurse who was also taken in by the whole thing to the point where she felt guilty for something others did enough to kill herself. But I don't suppose that anyone else, including all you fools who cheer for the Queen, will learn anything from it.
Off with their heads !!!

[AndrewinFargo]

Am I missing something here? The joke wasn't so vulgar or evil that this nurse needed to feel such shame. All she did was transfer a call. I don't see why the hosts who did a very, very, very innocent prank are being looked at as if they killed the nurse themselves. She must've had mental issues or been very tightly wonund to kill yourself over a harmless and actually kind of boring prank.

[twmat311]

Surely her family takes comfort in your logic.

[stupa5]

scum of the earth!