Murderer turned best-selling author Mark ‘Chopper’ Read confronted Alan Jones about being arrested in a public toilet on live TV more than 25 years ago, leaving the shock jock uncharacteristically lost for words.
‘Chopper’, a notorious criminal who claimed to have killed up to seven people before transforming himself into a loveable rogue and writer of successful, semi-autobiographical novels, rang the Midday Show hosted by Kerri-Anne Kennerley in March 1998.
The clip resurfaced online this week after Jones was charged with a string of historic sex offences on Monday following accusations he abused his position of power as a top-rating radio host to prey on young men.
The footage from 1998 began with Chopper defending his decision to feed a man into a cement mixer.
‘He was a heavy duty heroin dealer,’ Chopper told a clearly-unimpressed Kennerley.
‘He killed more people than I’ve killed in my wildest dreams.’
At this point, Jones interjected with a lecture.
‘There are law enforcement authorities in this country who are responsible for dealing with heroin dealers,’ he said.
Mark ‘Chopper’ Read (pictured), a notorious criminal who claimed to have killed up to seven people before transforming himself into a loveable rogue and writer of successful, semi-autobiographical novels, rang in to the Midday Show hosted by Kerri-Anne Kennerley in March 1998
‘It is not the responsibility of any Australian citizen to think they can chop people up and murder them because they deal in heroin, otherwise we’d have the law of the jungle prevailing and everyone would be the custodian of the law.’
Jones’ harangue earned the applause of the crowd but he was caught completely off guard by Chopper’s next comment.
‘People who throw stones better make sure they don’t live in glass houses, Alan,’ Chopper observed.
‘We are not talking about anybody living in glass houses, Chopper,’ Jones responded before the convicted criminal cut him off.
‘Well, I never got arrested in a public toilet in London.’
Chopper was referring to an episode almost a decade before in December 1988 when Jones was arrested in a public toilet near London’s Picaddily Circus and later charged with outraging public decency.
The toilets were located in an area known as a gay beat at the time and police had been ordered to target homosexuals meeting at the public facilities.
All charges were later dropped and Jones has always declared his innocence.
After Chopper’s comment, an audible gasp could be heard in the studio as Kennerly sought to defend her co-host.
Jones’ harangue earned the applause of the crowd but he was caught completely off guard by Chopper’s next comment (pictured: Jones’ face during the confrontation)
After Chopper’s comment, an audible gasp could be heard in the studio as Kennerly (pictured) sought to defend her co-host
Chopper was referring to an episode almost a decade before in December 1988 when Jones was arrested in a public toilet near London’s Picaddily Circus and later charged with outraging public decency (pictured: the Daily Mirror’s headline the following day)
‘Chopper, I’m actually pulling the plug on this, I have no desire to listen to anything else you have to say,’ she said.
‘Thank you very much for calling, that’s as polite as I can possibly be.’
A quietly seething Jones then sought the moral high ground.
‘In relation to the final comment by Chopper Read, I guess that indicates the kind of person we’re dealing with,’ he said.
‘Justice takes its course in all things and you don’t dignify those things by any kind of remark.’
The Herald Sun’s Deadline column said the audience was left dumbfounded by the interaction, while ‘the Midday camera crew members almost wet themselves with sheer, unadulterated joy’.
‘It was, as master comic writer Tony Martin noted 23 years later, a priceless exchange,’ the column observed.
‘Martin noted mischievously in 2020: ‘A lot of people (are) getting stuck into Kerri-Anne Kennerley, but let’s never forget that she was the one who introduced Alan Jones to Chopper Read in what is still one of Australian TV’s greatest moments’.’
Jones, 83, was arrested at around 7.45am on Monday at his Circular Quay apartment and taken to Day Street Police Station in the Sydney CBD after detectives searched his home.
He was later charged with 26 offences involving nine alleged victims spanning two decades.
Jones’s lawyer said he would be defending the charges.
He was granted conditional bail and will next appear in court on December 18.
