Sports journalist Paul Kent has been suspended by his TV and newspaper employers after a video surfaced online of an altercation outside of a trendy Sydney nightspot. The clip, which was widely circulated on X on Sunday morning, shows a group of men arguing outside of Sydney venue Totti’s in Rozelle.
A man, who appears to be Kent, can be heard calling a younger man a ‘doghead’ before charging towards him. Associates could be seen attempting to intervene before the two men exchanged blows on the street.
The clip ends with the man who appears to be Kent being thrown into the base of a tree and the other man exiting. In a statement to Daily Mail Australia, a spokesperson for Fox Sports and The Daily Telegraph said: ‘Fox Sports presenter and News Corp Australia columnist Paul Kent has been stood down pending an immediate investigation.’
Here’s another angle of kunty tumbling pic.twitter.com/NU4McghorC
— Dib Taleb (@86Dib) April 27, 2024
NSW Police told Daily Mail Australia that they are aware of the video. By Sunday afternoon, they confirmed they had launched an investigation. A friend visiting Kent’s home on Sunday told Daily Mail Australia the journalist would ‘like some privacy’.
‘He’s alright, just a bit sore,’ he said.
‘He’s a bit sick of being called names.’
He was one of half a dozen men seen visiting Kent’s Lilyfield home on Sunday morning to show their support. The incident comes just two months after Kent was reinstated as co-host of the Fox Sports footy show NRL 360 after being found not guilty of assaulting his ex-girlfriend. Kent was stood down from his News Corp newspaper column and his role on NRL360 in 2023 after he was charged with common assault and intentionally choking a person without consent.
He was found not guilty of allegations he attacked and choked his then-partner Lucy Kennedy, 33, at his home in Sydney’s inner west on December 12. Following a two-day hearing in Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court, Magistrate Daniel Reiss said he could not find the charges proven beyond reasonable doubt.
Kent, who drove limousines for a Sydney funeral business while he awaited trial, told media he was eager to return to a ‘normal life’ following his acquittal in December. ‘The judge accepted what happened to the point that my barrister was not even required to make a final summation,’ he said at the time.
‘It’s been seven months I’ve had to sit there and feel like I’ve been unfairly arrested [and] unfairly charged, and I’ve had to sit there and have our public reputation lacerated by people who have used it as an opportunity. ‘The truth is out there, finally. It’s been a big cost to me, it’s been a big set back in my life. But, we’ve all got our struggles in life. ‘This is my one currently, so it’s up to me now to regroup and get back to my normal life. I can finally leave this all behind.’
