Australian actor Samuel Johnson has taken aim at music industry veteran Molly Meldrum to “hang up” his hat after a second on-stage ambush, this time at the Elton John concert over the weekend.
Fundraiser and author Johnson, 44, who played Meldrum in the 2016 miniseries Molly, has delivered his verdict in separate highly charged radio and television interviews, saying he’s sick of the un-invited antics.
“I’m sick of him doing this, I’m sick of it, hang up your hat, mate.”
When Johnson was on-stage after winning a Gold Logie in 2017 for his performance, he wanted to make the speech about cancer, highlighting the Love Your Sister Charity he formed in 2012 after his sister Connie’s breast cancer diagnosis.
Connie later died and Johnson went on to raise $16 million for the charity.
Instead, Meldrum, 79, jumped the stage, interrupting his speech, kissed him and presented Johnson with a gold hat before making an eight-minute rambling speech.
On Friday night at Elton’s finale Melbourne concert at AAMI Park, Meldrum crashed another show.
He unexpectedly walked on stage, interrupting Elton’s The Bitch is Back performance, dropped his trousers and mooned the audience while standing next to Elton at the piano.
Meldrum, whose bare buttocks moments was widely posted on social media over the weekend, since apologised and blamed a faulty belt buckle for revealing his backside.
“I shouldn’t have ventured on stage, but I just wanted to tell Elton that I loved him,” he told the Herald Sun on Sunday.
“Some people thought it was part of the show. It wasn’t. Elton had no idea I was going to jump on stage.
“Elton might have been singing The Bitch Is Back but it was more a case of the idiot is back.”
‘He took away my moment’
Speaking to 4BC’s Sofie Formica on Monday to promote his latest book Dear Lover, Johnson was asked about the Elton controversy.
“He needs to hang up his hat … now.
“A few years ago I won a Gold Logie for playing Molly Meldrum. We weren’t getting along at that point because for six months he told me who to thank and he wasn’t even nominated for a Logie.
“He wanted me to make it about the network, the producers and I wanted to make it all about cancer. We disagreed on that. We didn’t speak to each other the whole night.
“They announced my name, I was getting up there to have my Carrie Beanie moment [referencing Carrie Bickmore’s Gold Logie acceptance speech in 2015 to talk about brain cancer awareness and research].
“My million dollar moment where I was going to plug the charity, and Molly got up and gave me a hat and interminable dribble for about eight minutes [that] nobody understood.
“He took away my moment.
“And recently, he took away the moment of Elton John as well.
“I’m sick of him doing this, I’m sick of it, hang up your hat, mate.”
He followed up with a second, more pointed chat to Jonesy and Amanda WSFM Breakfast on Tuesday morning, delivering an even sharper “hang up your hat” message to Meldrum.
“There’s a lot I haven’t said … am I am trying really hard to be diplomatic … and I’ve seen the same type of thing happen over and over again.
He said his stage ambush during the Logies “ruined” his “Carrie beanie moment” where his speech was intended to try and raise more money for his charity.
“[Meldrum] was drunk as a skunk, babbling for eight minutes to finish the Logies that night.
“Not a word did we understand. Who is looking after him? He must not be out in public during the PM, not with the way that he drinks … hang up your hat old mate,” Johnson said.
Johnson’s messaging is from the heart
Meldrum began his TV career in the mid-1960s hosting the ABC’s iconic music show, Countdown.
He spent decades travelling the world interviewing the biggest bands, singers and musicians, even awkwardly interviewing the Prince of Wales in 1977 in what is one of Australian television’s most famous moments.
In 2011, Meldrum fell from a ladder at his inner Melbourne home in Richmond while putting up Christmas decorations. He suffered a fractured skull and spent months in rehabilitation.
In 2016, he had another accident in Thailand and was flown home to Australia for surgery.
On Seven’s Morning Show on Tuesday, an emotional Johnson revealed he hadn’t spoken to Meldrum since the Logies, and will never speak to him again after he believes Meldrum cost his charity $1m that night.
“I thought his apology [after Elton] was false. I don’t believe it was a wardrobe malfunction … if it was we would’ve seen his undies, not his bum,” said Johnson, who revealed Molly had visited his sister Connie in hospital when she was suffering cancer as an 11-year-old.
“For years I haven’t said anything because I don’t want to say anything.
“Is he OK? Who are his minders? He has two shots of Vodka in his coffee in the morning. If I want to make any sense out of him I’ve got to see him before midday.
“Can someone look after him? Can someone care for him? I am really worried about him. I am not cross at him, I’m just really worried.
“Stop, Molly. stop,” he said.
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