Kyle Sandilands claims it was “practically impossible” to remedy an alleged breach of contract in a bombshell statement of claim against his former employer.
The allegation is contained in an application filed on Tuesday 7 April to the Federal Court of Australia against KIIS FM licensee Commonwealth Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), which was released by the courts and seen by nine.com.au today.
Sandilands’ counsel claim he suffered ”humiliation and loss of reputation” at the suggestion his conduct during an on-air row with co-host Jackie ‘O’ Henderson on February 20 would result in the termination of his $100 million contract.
Sandilands is now arguing his termination was unlawful and that he be returned to work on the show for the remainder of his 10-year contract, due to end in December 2034.
During the now infamous on-air clash, Sandilands told Henderson she was “off with the fairies” and that her fixation on astrology had made her “unworkable”.
Henderson tearfully left the conversation and didn’t return to airwaves. On March 3, ARN said Henderson confirmed she could “no longer work” with Sandilands and her contract was terminated shortly after.
Sandilands, meanwhile, was given 14 days to remedy the “breach of conduct,” which he claims in the court documents was impossible to do.
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“Mr Sandilands was not given a reasonable opportunity to remedy the Impugned Conduct,” the documents read, claiming “any opportunity that Mr Sandilands might otherwise have had to remedy the Impugned Conduct was rendered practically impossible or unreasonable” by the decision to terminate Henderson.
The court documents also deny comments made by Sandilands during the row caused “serious and imminent injury” to the wider business and was not “conduct of a kind that constituted a radical departure”.
Sandilands claims he abided by his contractual conditions, including using “his best endeavours to provide an entertaining and enlivening program”.
His counsel are now asking the court that “the Purported Notice of Termination is void and of no effect,” and “an order that the BSA [Broadcasting Services Agreement] be specifically performed”.
Under the agreement between CBC and Sandilands’ company, Quasar, Sandilands would receive $7.4 million in cash each year for the remainder of his contract and around $800,000 in allowances, consultancy fees and air time.
Sandilands’ court documents have come to light one day after Henderson’s statement of claim was seen by the media.
In it, she claimed she asked Australian Radio Network (ARN) to step in and put a stop to Sandilands’ behaviour towards her six months before the on-air argument that ended their careers.
According to Henderson’s statement of claim, which was filed on March 30, she was unfairly terminated.
The court documents, seen by nine.com.au, show Henderson complained about Sandilands after an incident back in August 2025, when she accused him of berating her during their popular show and said she was on “period time”.
After the August incident, Henderson demanded the chairman and chief executive of ARN, which owns KIIS FM, intervene to stop Sandilands treating her as if they were in an “abusive relationship”, the court documents allege.
Henderson also alleges in court documents that she brought Sandilands’ behaviour to the attention of ARN bosses in text messages back in February.
She is now seeking more than $82 million in compensation from ARN after it tore up her contract.
Henderson is also claiming the station breached workplace rules by retaliating against her after she exercised her rights to complain about Sandilands’ behaviour.
Henderson’s lawyers claim she was not offered a new show by ARN before the company terminated her contract on March 3, despite the network telling the stock market and the public that it had.
Her lawyers are also arguing that the radio network made no attempt to intervene during Sandilands’ rant on February 20 – the last time the two were on-air together.
The court filing reportedly contains text messages that suggest Henderson told ARN executives after the February incident that his claims she had an obsession with astrology and was acting unprofessionally were “unfair, inappropriate and completely unprovoked”.
The documents also claim Henderson raised concerns with KIIS FM station manager Derek Bargwanna in August, following complaints from listeners.
“On 11 September 2025, Ms Henderson sent a text message to Mr Bargwanna, in response, and said, ‘Yeah it’s fine today. But let’s make sure [chairman] Hamish [McLennan] and [then-chief executive] Ciaran [Davis] start to think about how to address this,” the document states.
“We are getting a lot of complaints from listeners, calling it an abusive relationship, women especially.
“I can send you though some [of] the examples.”
Bargwanna then allegedly told Henderson he was “all over that” and had spoken with both Davis and McLennan twice about the issue.
The court document also claims Henderson complained about Sandilands’ conduct on August 20, when he made “offensive and degrading” comments about her personal and dating life, including saying “you’ll never find anyone because there is, all of these requirements that you have…”
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The court document also lists a number of communications showing senior ARN executives were aware from September 2025 about Henderson’s complaints.
Her lawyers will likely argue this supports claims the February 20 incident was not an isolated conflict.
Details of the on-air blow-up that derailed Kyle and Jackie O’s $200 million deal
The on-air fight began after Jackie O read from Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s astrology birth chart and Sandilands complained about her interest in astrology charts.
“Your fixation on this has made you almost unworkable,” Sandilands told her.
“You are off with the fairies with this s—, it’s mental.”
He claimed her fixation on astrology charts made her sound like a “drug addict”.
Henderson has previously opened up on air about addiction issues that led to her going to rehabilitation in the US in 2022.
Henderson said Sandilands’ accusations were “so unfair” and that he was attacking her on air.
“I would never say things like that about you,” she said.
“It’s a total attack, it really is. Kyle, to say ‘you don’t know what the F is going on, you’re not doing your job,’ that’s an attack and I wouldn’t do that.”
Sandilands and Henderson have been in an on-air partnership for 27 years.
They moved to breakfast in 2005 and then to KIIS in 2014.
They have been under contract in a lucrative $200 million, 10-year deal that was set to run until December 2034.
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