From the SMH:
Paul Kent stood down from Fox, Daily Telegraph pending street fight investigation
April 28, 2024 — 9.27am
Rugby league journalist Paul Kent has been stood down from his roles at the Daily Telegraph and Fox Sports after a video posted to social media on Sunday morning showed him in a street fight outside a restaurant in Sydney’s inner west.
A statement from a spokesperson speaking on behalf of both organisations said Kent “had been stood down pending an immediate investigation”.
Paul Kent appeared in social media videos of a street fight in Rozelle.CREDIT: X/@86DIB
Kent was
cleared of domestic violence chargesagainst his ex-partner in December last year.
In the video posted to X, the senior writer for
The Daily Telegraph and host of Fox Sports show
NRL 360 can be seen on the street outside Totti’s Rozelle, engaging in an argument with another man before the fight turns physical.
Kent appears to take his watch off before approaching a man. The two men then begin trading punches.
The sparring sends Kent and the man onto the street, with Kent at one point going head-first into the gutter during the scuffle.
It’s not clear what the dispute was over, but Kent can allegedly be heard calling a man a “dog” and a “doghead” during the initial argument.
NSW Police confirmed they did not respond to the incident, and were unaware of the video before this masthead contacted the media unit with questions on Sunday morning.
Kent returned to his
NRL 360 hosting gig in March after a nine-month absence while he awaited trial on the domestic violence charges.
Kent was accused of attacking his then 33-year-old ex-partner at his home in Lilyfield on May 12 last year, but was found not guilty of common assault, intentionally choking a person without consent and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
After a two-day hearing in December, magistrate Daniel Reiss said he could not rely on the complainant’s version of events over Kent’s.
The woman claimed Kent threw her to the ground after she took his phone off his home office desk, and put his hands around her throat, leaving her with injuries to her neck, arms and hand.
Delivering his judgment, Reiss said the medical evidence provided concluded “no such injuries have been found on the neck” and photographs of her arms were inconclusive.
RELATED ARTICLE
In regards to the physical “wrestle”, Reiss said it was a case of “one word against another” and he was not satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the alleged assaults occurred.
Outside court in December, Kent told reporters the case had been costly and “a big setback”, and had “caused significant reputational damage”.
“I’ve been vindicated today. The judge accepted what happened,” he said.
Kent was contacted for comment.