‘The bulk of this savaging I deserve and I totally own,’ he said
The Australian TV journalist who received “a torrent of abuse and mockery” for not listening to Adele’s new album before interviewing her has issued an apology.
In his latest monologue at the end of Seven’s Weekend Sunrise programme on Saturday (27 November), Matt Doran told viewers: “If I’m being honest with you, the bulk of this savaging I deserve and I totally own.”
Doran is said to have flown to London on 4 November, ahead of the 19 November release of Adele’s latest record, 30, for an exclusive interview with the 33-year-old singer.
It was conducted as part of a a $1m (£539,065) package deal that included streaming rights to the CBS TV special Adele: One Night Only.
According to reports, Doran did not ask the British singer-songwriter a single question about her new album over the course of the 20-30 minute interview. When the “Easy On Me” singer asked Doran what he thought about 30, he told her he hadn’t heard it.
Doran has now attributed the error to missing an email that included a link to a pre-release version of the album for him to listen to.
“The day after we landed in London an email came through from Sony. It didn’t mention Adele, but it did contain a link to her album,” he said.
“The genuine, deadset, hand on heart truth is that I missed it. By an absurdly long margin the most important email I’ve ever missed in my life.”
He called it “a terrible mistake”, and refuted claims that Adele walked out of the interview upon learning he hadn’t listened to the album.
Doran described the singer as “profound” and “funny”, stating: “But all that doesn’t matter because, by missing the album link, however I might try to justify it, I’ve insulted Adele.”
The presenter said he would “never have knowingly disrespected” the singer, whom he apologised to, adding: “I also apologise to Adele’s Australian fans, and to you, our viewers, who through my error have been denied this interview and the insight to her character.”
In the wake of the controversy, Sony refused to release the footage of the interview. Read – The Independent’s review ’30’ album here.