Sunrise host is demoted to being a reporter after ‘twisted joke’
Sunrise presenter Mylee Hogan has been banned from the breakfast show’s studio desk after backlash from viewers for joking about the death of Australian cricketer Glenn McGrath.
Hogan made the bizarre joke after a report on a TikTok trend where children record their parents’ shock when they are falsely told that a favorite celebrity has died.
The segment shocked his co-hosts who tried to get past an interview with former fast bowler McGrath, but Hogan then blurted out: “Glenn McGrath died!”
Hogan this week disappeared from the flagship show’s presenters’ desk without explanation after Daily Mail Australia revealed viewer rage on Friday.
She returned to Sunrise on Thursday, but was demoted back to road reporter, just 13 days after the show welcomed her to the new desk position.
Sunrise presenter Mylee Hogan has been banned from the breakfast show’s studio desk after backlash from viewers for joking about the death of Australian cricketer Glenn McGrath.
Hogan had only been revealed as a studio host on December 23 before her December 28 outburst.
At the time, she told co-hosts Monique Wright and Mark Beretta that she was delighted to leave her reporting role behind on the road to present the news in the studio.
‘It’s good to be here guys,’ he smiled. “It’s a nice temperature, I know where the bathroom is, where the coffee is, it’s very comfortable.”
But days later, she was thrown back onto the streets after the failed attempt at humor backfired.
Mylee Hogan (left) had only been welcomed onto the show as a permanent studio host on December 23 before her December 28 outburst.
New Sunrise presenter Mylee Hogan disappeared from television screens on January 3 with no explanation after Daily Mail Australia revealed fan fury over her comment.
Outraged Sunrise fans vowed to boycott Seven’s show if Hogan stayed, calling the comment insensitive after McGrath’s wife, Jane, died in 2008 of breast cancer.
On Tuesday, Edwina Bartholomew had taken Hogan’s place as news anchor at the end of the desk, with Monique Wright moving into the spot alongside Mark Beretta.
And on Thursday, she was back on screen, but out of the studio and working as a reporter, reporting from near the Sydney Harbor Bridge on the city’s population growth.
His fall from stationery was not mentioned on air, and Seven declined to comment when contacted by Daily Mail Australia on Thursday.
Shocked viewers criticized new Sunrise reporter Mylee Hogan (pictured) for joking that cricketer Glenn McGrath had been killed during a segment on a twisted TikTok fad.
Co-host Mark Beretta had ended his report early on TikTok’s fake death videos, calling it “the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen in my life.”
I do not like. We shouldn’t be running that. Take it off. Take it off now,’ she said.
Hogan said he thought the cruel insanity of social media was “really fun” and insisted to co-hosts Beretta and Edwina Bartholomew that it was “just a bit of fun!”
But when Beretta went on to speak to former Australian fast bowler McGrath about the Boxing Day Test, Hogan angered fans with his twisted joke about the star’s death.
The comment, which was off camera but clearly heard, drew an angry reaction from Beretta and co-host Edwina Bartholomew.
Stand-in anchor Mark Beretta (right) ended the report early, while a stern-faced Edwina Bartholomew apologized to viewers for Hogan’s unfunny outburst.
“Not even…that’s not funny,” Bartholomew said as Hogan laughed. Beretta added: ‘I don’t understand that at all. It’s not funny. It’s crazy…’
A stern-faced Bartholomew immediately apologized to viewers, adding: ‘It’s not funny. Sorry.’
The show then interviewed McGrath, whose wife Jane died in 2008 of breast cancer, about the third day of the Second Test against South Africa.
It provoked a furious reaction from some viewers who vowed to boycott the show if Hogan remained on the screen.
“We won’t be watching Sunrise again if that raven-haired girl reads the news again,” a fan of the show posted on Facebook.
‘Please remove that girl from Channel 7; we will feel sick every time we see her face.
He made a comment about the death of Glenn McGrath and laughed. Don’t you know that Glenn’s first wife, Jane, tragically died of breast cancer?
Hogan blurted out “Glenn McGrath is dead” just before the show cut to an interview with the Australian fast bowler whose wife Jane died of breast cancer in 2008.
‘It won’t matter if he apologizes, in his mind he hasn’t done anything wrong. How immature and insensitive she is.
Another viewer tweeted: ‘Terrible, terrible, tasteless “joke”, joking with people that someone has died, especially when the next guest has lost a wife. Please don’t reissue.
Hogan had previously played clips of TikTok videos showing parents’ dramatic reactions to receiving false news about the deaths of stars like Zac Efron and Oprah Winfrey.
“Some people think the overreactions are funny, others think it’s a cruel joke,” Hogan said.
She added: ‘I personally think this is really fun guys! Just a little fun!’
But the co-hosts at Sunrise’s desk immediately forced her to stop, ordering the news report to stop there.
“I think this shows the generational divide, because Beretts doesn’t find it funny at all,” Bartholomew said.
Viewers were also outraged by the segment, taking to social media to express their anger.
“We thought it was disgusting,” Kelvin Mills posted on the show’s Facebook page.
“Take a look at the faces in his story when people were told about these fake deaths, they were distraught.
‘Yes, these people were told it was fake news, but that wouldn’t easily remove the sick feeling in their stomachs.
“He’s obviously too young to have had death around him.”
Viewers were also outraged by the segment and took to social media to express their anger.
One user added: ‘You’re not wrong, that’s disgusting. This is what I call offensive.
Another posted: ‘I totally agree, that was horrible, Beretts was horrified too. She went on and laughed. Go back to anything off screen for her.