A routine staff meeting to introduce new appointments at Seven West has been likened to something from the 1980s after a group of “sexy Santas” started singing and dancing.
Seven West Media held a town hall event in Perth on Friday, where West Australian managing director Maryna Fewster announced Chris Dore as the new editor-in-chief of The West Australian.
Other major announcements included the appointment of Sarah-Jane Tasker as editor-in-chief and Adrian Lowe as head of the Sunday Times weekend edition.
They are the first female editor-in-chief and the first LGBT appointments, respectively.
As deputy news director Ray Kuka announced the network’s upcoming schedule, including the December 7 airing of WA’s Christmas Pageant, Mariah Carey’s festive song All I Want for Christmas played.
Then a group of scantily clad dancers entered the stage, wearing Santa hats and short red dresses.
A photo of the event shared online was widely criticized, with one commentator comparing the dancers to “slutty elves,” the Australian Financial Overview reported.
Female employees who watched were reportedly “stunned and shocked” by the bizarre scene, which came at a time when the network was in the spotlight for inappropriate behavior.
A Seven West Media gathering on Friday featured a performance by scantily clad Christmas dancers (pictured)
Seven Network has come under fire for its alleged ‘inappropriate’ work culture, with the recent sacking of Robert Ovadia, who exposed alleged mistreatment of female staff
“OMG – if they thought this was even remotely appropriate given everything we’ve discovered about them, the cultural makeup of that organization is seriously out of whack,” one commenter wrote.
Another added: ‘How can this be real!
A third wrote: ‘That will help solve the cultural problems that have been exposed.’
A Seven spokesperson told the publication that the dancers were part of the nativity play, which is considered a “Perth institution”, but many questioned whether the performance was appropriate for a midday gathering.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Seven for further comment.
The controversial meeting comes just weeks after veteran Sydney reporter Robert Ovadia filed a lawsuit against the network in the Federal Court.
Ovadia was ousted on June 21 following an investigation into allegations of inappropriate behavior.
The achievement overshadowed CEO Jeff Howard’s (pictured) announcement of the company’s first appointment of female and LGBTQ+ editors
The allegations include sending offensive messages to a female colleague and sending photoshopped photos of a female colleague showing her as a “pole dancer; in a catsuit, brandishing a whip; sitting in a cocktail glass” on Four Corners.
Ryan Stokes, director of Seven Group Holdings Ltd, recently called inappropriate behaviour in the media an “industry-wide problem”.
He made the comments in response to allegations against Nine Entertainment of mistreatment of women and the ABC’s investigation into racism targeting staff.
Stokes said it was ‘disappointing that there is a perception [that] ‘Inappropriate behaviour’ was tolerated at Seven because ‘we do not tolerate inappropriate behaviour’.