Alan Jones sex assault trial: Slurs and snubs in talkback titans' feud with Ray Hadley aired in court

WARNING: DISTRESSING LANGUAGE

Grub. Parasite. F****t. Dog. Low c**t.

This is how talkback giant Ray Hadley described archrival and highly influential stablemate Alan Jones over the years.

The pair have feuded for much of their decades-long broadcasting careers, sparking “stand-up brawls” and conflict between their teams.

Jones, the host who won a record number of breakfast slots, often had the upper hand but Hadley held his own as mornings host.

The dynamic shifted when the rivals faced each other from opposite sides of a Sydney courtroom, Jones sitting silently while Hadley commanded attention from behind a different kind of microphone.

He was called as a witness in the trial of Jones, 85, who has pleaded not guilty to 22 charges of indecent assault and sexual touching without consent against six men dating back to 2003.

Hadley glanced intermittently at Jones over three days in the witness box, as his arch-nemesis assiduously avoided eye contact despite the unobstructed line of sight.

Jones kept his head bowed and focused on scribbling in his notebook, as has become his habit during the first month of his estimated four-month trial.

His fixed look of concentration was maintained even as profanities and a homophobic slur used to describe him were detailed during Hadley’s evidence.

When the witness had to leave the room for a legal argument — a not infrequent occurrence — Jones would often turn his head in the opposite direction as his rival neared, a seemingly deliberate snub.

Many colourful descriptions were unearthed in Hadley’s messages, although he accepted he told police he marched into Jones’s office to personally call him a “dog and a c***”.

With his tongue in his cheek, he characterised the rebuke as “advice”.

Hadley said the confrontation had been sparked by Jones targeting him for signing a “secret contract” worth $4 million to usurp him as the host of the breakfast show.

He had been approached to take over the role after a majority stakeholder took issue with the cost of defamation suits brought against Jones, he said.

Although the prospect of getting up at 1.30am wasn’t appealing, Hadley told the court doubling his salary was persuasive.

“The money made me do it,” Hadley told Jones’s barrister Gabrielle Bashir SC.

But the ousting ultimately didn’t eventuate as the chairman of Nine — which owns 2GB — pushed for Jones to return as breakfast host, leaving Hadley in his role as mornings host.

He denied it had been a difficult time for him, telling the court 2GB had honoured the contract by giving him the agreed-upon salary.

“Inadvertently, Mr Jones doubled my salary for doing the same job,” Hadley told the court jovially, sparking snickers in court.

He accepted events led him to harbour animosity for Jones about the time a radio staffer tearfully confided that Jones had kissed and groped him without consent.

Jones is charged with — and denies — eight counts of indecent assault against the man, who alleges he was repeatedly indecently assaulted over five months.

“He said ‘(Jones) put his hand on my c**k and kissed me’,” Hadley told the court.

He recalled asking the younger man whether he was homosexual and whether he had consented.

“He broke down and cried and said ‘no, I hated it — I’m not homosexual’,” Hadley said.

He said the radio staffer swore him to secrecy and did not want to report the matter to police because he did not want anyone to find out.

“It would ruin me. It would ruin my career. He’s too powerful,” the man allegedly told Hadley.

Texts aired in court revealed the longtime shock jock sent a message to the radio staffer around that time which included the words “Jones outed as a f****t”.

The former 2GB mornings host admitted he had used the “very strong” word to refer to Jones in the text, but insisted it was not one he would normally use.

In another text to the radio staffer, he wrote: “this bloke (Jones) needs to be destroyed”.

“I said I’d stick by (the complainant) and I’d support him in every way, no matter what course of action he decided to take,” Hadley said staunchly when asked about the message.

“That’s why I’m here today.”

He reiterated that support - after the radio staffer’s allegations were aired in a 2023 article by journalist Kate McClymont - in a text that labelled Jones a “low c***”.

“I won’t rest until we bury him, figuratively and literally,” Hadley wrote, promising to “tear his supporters apart” one by one.

His enraged symbolism moved from the grave to the cradle in another expletive-laden text sent on the eve of publication for another article about the allegations against Jones.

“That c*** will be in the foetal position when he reads the story in the morning,” Hadley texted the radio staffer.

“It’s been 50 years in the making.”

Hadley’s brutal assessments of his rival laid bare the machinations of Sydney’s top-rating radio station, normally kept behind closed doors.

But the court was told the archenemies could also be friendly, with Hadley texting Jones after a bout of ill health to say he loved him, but then qualifying it with “above ground”.

“Our relationship was very complicated. We went from being very close to very distant,” the broadcaster said of warm messages he had sent Jones.

Ms Bashir previously declared that “rivalry, treachery, double-dealing, money, hatred, desperation, opportunism” were at the heart of the case against Jones.

She suggested Hadley encouraged the radio staffer to make a police complaint to damage his rival, which he denied.

The complainant rejected suggestions he had come forward to benefit Hadley or concocted the allegations during his evidence.

Hadley appeared somewhat reticent when he began his evidence on Tuesday afternoon but became much more animated by the next day, even throwing a rogue wink that caused a stir in the courtroom.

Ms Bashir questioned whether the gesture was directed at the prosecution, but Hadley insisted he had been winking at a journalist he said had called him “scruffy” in an article.

As he concluded his evidence on Thursday, Hadley thanked the court.

Only moments before, Jones made a remark to one of his lawyers and grinned broadly.

His rival has had the chance to ventilate his views in the witness box - whether Jones takes up the opportunity himself will be up to him later in the trial.

After years of commanding the court of public opinion as a radio host and national television commentator, Jones has spent a month letting his lawyers do the talking.

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