She slurred drunkenly on a live broadcast at the Olympics: TV reporter Danika Mason has apologized for an alcohol outburst on Australian television.
“I would like to take a moment, if that’s okay, to apologize,” Mason said the day after the incident.
“I shouldn’t have drunk anything – and especially not under these conditions: it’s cold, we’re at high altitude, and the fact that I hadn’t eaten dinner probably didn’t help either.”
From coffee prices in Italy to iguanas
Mason was live from Livigno on Wednesday morning as part of a show on the Australian broadcaster Channel9. She spoke noticeably slowly and incoherently about coffee prices in Italy, iguanas and Lindsey Vonn, and later she lay down to make a snow angel. “I’m a little embarrassed. I completely misjudged a situation,” Mason said afterwards.
Immediately after Lall’s performance, studio presenter Karl Stefanovic initially told his colleague Jayne Azzopardi that the reporter’s slurred pronunciation may have had something to do with the icy cold in Livigno and that it had affected Mason’s lips. But it was the alcohol.
Days earlier, while reporting from a nightclub, Mason had reported getting some limoncello from Italians. In Australia, criticism arose after the Lall switch: the station’s producers should not have allowed Mason to go on air in his condition.
TV reporter: “I want to take full responsibility”
But the person affected took the blame herself. “I want to take full responsibility. That doesn’t correspond to the demands I have of myself. So: I’m really sorry – and thank you to everyone for the messages I received.”
Her TV colleagues were also among those who encouraged her. “We know how hard you work, Danika,” Azzopardi said after Mason’s confession – and Stefanovic added: “You’re the best, Danika. Don’t worry about it, let’s just move on. You’re a legend.”