Kate Middleton Prank Call Tragedy: Suspended DJ Back on Air
The Australian DJ who was suspended in December after he assisted in a prank call to pregnant Kate Middleton's London hospital - which allegedly prompted a nurse to commit suicide - was back on air Monday.
Michael Christian, 25, was fired from 2Day FM after him and his co-host Mel Greig, 30, pretended to be Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles in a call to a hospital in London where the Dutchess of Cambridge was being treated for an acute form of morning sickness, Fox News reported.
The nurse who picked up the call, 46-year-old Jacintha Saldanha, forwarded it to the room where Middleton was being treated. After posting an audio recording of the hoax, Christians and Greig later apologized and took down the conversation. But it was all too late, as Saldanha was found dead in her apartment three days later, in an apparent suicide.
Rhys Holleran, CEO of Austereo - which owns both radio stations - said, "We are happy to have Michael back on air."
"We have always supported our talent returning to work when appropriate and today marks that occasion for Michael," Holleran added. "We look forward to welcoming Mel Greig back when the time is right."
Christian started back as the solo host of a weekday morning music show on Fox FM in Melbourne Monday morning. In his first show, he made no comments on the controversy and did not take any calls.
After the duo's program on 2DayFM was cancelled following the scandal, the two were forced to take a leave of absence. Greig and Christian later apologized and said the situation left them "shattered, gutted and heartbroken."
"There's not a minute that goes by where we don't think about her family and what they must be going through," Greig said on the Australian TV show A Current Affair. "And the thought we may have played a part in that is gut-wrenching."
The U.K.'s Crown Prosecution service conducted a full investigation and found no evidence linking the radio personalities to a possible manslaughter.
"It is not possible to extradite individuals from Australia in respect of the potential offenses in question. However misguided, the telephone call was intended as a harmless prank," said Malcolm McHaffie, deputy head of CPS' special crime unit, in a statement. "The consequences in this case were very sad. We send our sincere condolences to Jacintha Saldanha's family."
