"It wasn’t a joke to me." Amanda Keller has spoken for the first time about Tom Gleeson's Logies speech.

Radio host and television presenter Amanda Keller has spoken for the first time about how she felt after Tom Gleeson’s controversial Gold Logie speech.

Appearing on radio show Jonesy and Amanda for the first time since the 2019 Logies, Keller said there were elements she thought crossed the line.

Gleeson, comedian and host of Hard Quiz, ran a campaign in order to win, which took aim at his fellow nominees. Keller was one of them.

Watch Tom Gleeson’s Logies speech. Post continues below.

“I like Tom,” she said. “We saw him at the airport, no problem with Tom. But [his speech] gave everyone permission to say, ‘yeah you’re all up yourselves, and this is all a big joke’. And it wasn’t a joke to me,” she told her co-host Brendan Jones.

“I don’t know why in television we’re embarrassed to be proud of our work. The tourism industry has awards, the restaurant industry has awards… He got to a point where he said, ‘Sucko for wanting this, you know it’s all a dumb joke’ — and that’s what made me feel bad, because to the other nominees, it wasn’t.

“I don’t think we should be embarrassed for being worthy,” Keller added.

She also acknowledged last year’s Gold Logie winner Grand Denyer, whose victory Gleeson claimed after running a comedic campaign.

“I think in his speech when he said, ‘everyone who works in TV, if you want to win this you’re a big wanker’, pretty much, and that upset me because he was mean to Grant [Denyer] I felt…

“That’s not fair to Grant, he won that last year on his own two feet. And people that have won in the past — Carrie Bickmore changed the world, she’s raised ten million dollars for brain cancer research. Grant spoke about redemption. Waleed Aly spoke about inclusiveness.”

In the lead up to the Logies, Keller was interviewed on Mamamia’s podcast No Filter hosted by Mia Freedman.

Listen to Amanda Keller interviewed on No Filter. Post continues below. 

“It’s a funny night – it’s a long night,” she said. “People have always laughed at the Logies. But at the same time, they are all we have for television awards… If the public vote for you, that’s a big deal and I wish people would let it be a big deal.”

She added, “Tom and Sam [Mac] are treating it – and fair enough too if they want to – like this comedy competition. Tom’s like the school bully picking us all off. It’s a different feeling and I’m not very good at it.”

Mamamia also interviewed Gleeson on the Logies red carpet, and when asked about Keller, he replied: “I’ll tell her [tonight] that if she wins, I’ll buy you dinner, and blow smoke up your arse for the whole dinner, and if I win, I’ll buy your dinner and I’ll apologise.”

As far as we know, he hasn’t bought Keller dinner yet.

Read more on this topic: 

• Tom Gleeson’s speech was funny. But Australia’s biggest entertainers weren’t laughing.
• In 2012, a different comedian won the Gold Logie. But to him, it wasn’t a joke.
• “I disagree with what you’re saying.” Waleed Aly confronted Tom Gleeson on The Project.