Samuel Johnson tells Molly Meldrum to hang up his hat after recent public stunt

Actor Samuel Johnson has criticised Molly Meldrum over his now infamous speech at the Logies in 2017, in the wake of another stunt by the star.

During the 60th annual Logie Awards, Johnson was awarded the Gold Logie for his portrayal of Meldrum in the miniseries Molly.

In his acceptance speech, Johnson used the platform to raise awareness for his charity, Love Your Sister, and to thank his sister, Connie, who was battling cancer at the time and later died.

However, Meldrum, who was also in attendance, took the microphone from Johnson and began speaking about his own career and achievements.

The incident sparked widespread criticism of Meldrum, with many people expressing their support for Johnson and his charity and calling on Meldrum to apologise for his actions.

Now, Johnson has claimed he is “sick” of the Aussie entertainment icon’s shenanigans following last week’s onstage stunt at Sir Elton John’s Melbourne concert.

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Meldrum appeared onstage, standing next to Elton at the piano as he performed The Bitch Is Back – before shocking the audience by dropping his trousers and baring his buttocks.

“He needs to hang up his hat. Now,” Johnson told 4BC’s Afternoons with Sofie Formica.

“They announced my name, my million dollar moment where I was going to plug the charity, and Molly got up and gave me a hat and (what followed was) interminable dribble for about eight minutes. Nobody understood, and 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.”

And in another radio interview, speaking to Jonesy and Amanda on WSFM Breakfast this morning, Johnson doubled down on his criticism of Meldrum.
“There’s a lot I haven’t said and I’m trying really hard to be diplomatic but I’ve seen this same type of thing happen over and over again,” he said, when asked about the Elton John incident by the hosts.
He said Meldrum had been “drunk as a skunk” on-stage at the Logies, and asked: “Who’s looking after him? He must not be out in the public during the PM, not with the way he drinks.”

In response to the criticism of his Logies stunt, Meldrum issued an apology, stating that he had not meant to steal the spotlight from Johnson or his charity and that he had been caught up in the moment.

Meldrum offered a public apology following the Elton John slip-up, blaming the rather deliberate-looking wardrobe malfunction on a faulty belt.

Photos and video of the incident circulated widely on social media over the weekend, with many horrified by 79-year-old Meldrum’s behaviour.

Speaking to the Herald Sun, he explained that Elton had no idea he would join him onstage.

“I feel terrible if any of the security people get in trouble. The whole thing was 100 per cent my idea – no one else knew what I was doing. Elton might have been singing The Bitch Is Back but it was more a case of The Idiot is Back,” he told the outlet.

“I shouldn’t have crashed Elton’s show. As for my performance being more revealing than it should have been … well, at the start of the night, my belt buckle broke and my pants were already falling down. And on stage, one thing led to another,” he said, dubbing himself “a naughty boy, who needs a new belt.”

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Meldrum and John’s friendship stretches back decades, with regular interviews and catch-ups when the Rocket Man music legend visits our shores – however, the pair hit a well-documented rough patch in 2012, after Meldrum interviewed his friend for Seven’s Sunday Night program.

The interview included footage of the singer dissing Madonna as a “nightmare” and “fairground stripper” – comments he insisted were private and were never meant to air.

He then refused to talk to Meldrum for several years before the pair finally patched things up again in 2019.

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