{"id":403676,"date":"2024-06-17T04:07:04","date_gmt":"2024-06-17T04:07:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=403676"},"modified":"2024-06-17T05:05:10","modified_gmt":"2024-06-17T05:05:10","slug":"really-upsetting-tv-star-responds-to-afl-kiss-furore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=403676","title":{"rendered":"'Really upsetting': TV star responds to AFL kiss furore"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lachie Neale<\/a> and Abbey Holmes have broken their silence after the pair found themselves at the centre of controversy for what they considered an innocent post-interview kiss.<\/p>\n

The Brisbane Lions<\/a> star was captured kissing Channel 7 presenter and former AFLW<\/a> star Holmes on the cheek after the Lions' win over the Western Bulldogs<\/a> in round 13.<\/p>\n

The incident went unnoticed at the time, however, has since been labelled as "inappropriate" with many suggesting Neale crossed a line.<\/p>\n

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Speaking on Nine's Today<\/em>, Neale said he was "surprised" to learn the incident had become a hot topic one week after the game.<\/p>\n

"The fact that it's been brought up a week later is a little bit strange," Neale said.<\/p>\n

"I didn't really know about it until the other day. It's sort of come as a bit of a surprise."<\/p>\n

Holmes questioned journalist Kate Halfpenny's knowledge of her relationship with Neale, revealing the backlash has been "really upsetting"<\/p>\n

"The fact that this article came out a week after the fact, after that interview happened, shows how much of a non-news story this is," Holmes said on LiSTNR's Footy Talk. <\/p>\n

"It's really frustrating for me. Lachie is a good friend of mine, so that's just something that you do \u2013 you greet your friends. Whether that's a hug or a kiss on the cheek. <\/p>\n

"The fact that this has been blown up out of proportion to the actual incident itself. It's really upsetting for me.<\/p>\n

\"Lachie<\/p>\n

"Kate Halfpenny wrote the article. But does she know my relationship with Lachie? Does she know that he's a good friend of mine? If she had have done her due diligence ahead of writing that article, I think she might feel a little bit differently and might not have actually written it in the first place," she continued.<\/p>\n

"I don't want to spend too much time on it because to me it is not a story. This isn't the first time that a player who I've got a great relationship has given me a hug or given me a kiss and the one thing that did upset me was the professionalism aspect of that article. <\/p>\n

"I've worked so hard over such a long period of time now to build relationships, to build trust, to build rapport with these players and coaches and make them feel like they are in a really safe space when they're with me. And that that's what probably upset me the most.<\/p>\n

\"Abbey<\/p>\n

"I don't want my friends to feel uncomfortable in how they going to greet me or say goodbye to me. That's not fair. I just feel as though that article was taken out of proportion massively.<\/p>\n

"Jules Neale (Lachie's wife) even sent me a message this morning saying, I hope you're okay – this is ridiculous. I'm like, mate, I know Lachie's a friend of mine."\ufeff<\/p>\n

\ufeffHalfpenny's article criticised the pair's interaction, stating: "The interaction was fast, but it was weird enough for my husband and I to say, 'Wait, what?'"<\/p>\n

AFL great Leigh Matthews<\/a> was one of the many commentators rattled by the incident.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"You must assume they must know each other very well because normally you only give a kiss on the cheek to someone you know quite well," he said on 3AW.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"Otherwise, you shake their hand. I would shake the hands of a woman I don't know very well.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Lachie<\/p>\n

"I don't know how well they know each other. I assume they know each other very well, otherwise it's a highly unusual thing which is why we're talking about it.<\/p>\n

"It is a first. I've never seen it before. Have you ever seen it? That's why we're talking about it. It's quite an unusual one."<\/p>\n

Nine's sports reporter Roz Kelly slammed the reactions to the innocent interaction as "unwanted attention" for the pair.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"This actually makes me really angry," she said.<\/p>\n

"It was an innocent interaction between two professionals who were doing their job and it's hard enough being a woman in sport as it is, let alone attracting this sort of unwanted attention."<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lachie Neale and Abbey Holmes have broken their silence after the pair found themselves at the centre of controversy for what they considered an innocent […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":403591,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403676"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=403676"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403676\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":403680,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403676\/revisions\/403680"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/403591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=403676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=403676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=403676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}