Battle of the broadcasters over 'flicked' bubbly

Jo Cotton says she has been abused by the public. Photo / Herald on Sunday

A row over seats and whether a glass of champagne was flicked or thrown at the premiere of the hit movie Eclipse has led to a major dust-up between two top broadcasters.

More FM's Joe Cotton says she has received hate emails since she was "ambushed" on air by ZM disc jockey Paul Flynn.

He claimed she threw a glass of bubbly at his wife Natalie and two ZM staffers at Wednesday night's premiere at Hoyts Sylvia Park.

Natalie Flynn had said the champagne went through their hair and down their backs.

But former TrueBliss singer Cotton says she only flicked some of the bubbly out of frustration over the group who appeared to be guarding empty seats for friends to turn up.

She did not know it was Flynn's wife. He was MC of the premiere.

"I was hot-headed and it was a dumb thing to do. I had a momentary lapse of judgment. I don't know why I did that. It was stupid," Cotton told the Herald On Sunday yesterday.

But she is adamant she only "flicked" champagne at the empty seats.

Things took a turn for the worse on Thursday when Flynn phoned her.

Cotton had been talking about the incident on her own FM show earlier in the day.

"I thought he was having a joke when he asked me 'why did you throw wine at my wife'. I said I felt bad about his wife, but I said it wasn't correct what he was saying. I hadn't thrown a glass of wine. Then I realised it was an ambush; I was being recorded."

Cotton said the interview was edited before going to air to make her "look bad".

Several nasty emails had been sent to her since by members of the public.

"They're saying I'm a stupid bitch ... 'I wonder if my family knows what I'm like ...' 'I hope you'll die in a car crash ...' 'If I knew where your family lived I'd burn their house down'.

"I can handle flak coming to me, but not to my family," a tearful Cotton said.

Flynn said his wife told him what had happened when he sat down just after the movie started.

"I was a little shocked and surprised that Joe would do that. Nat had to go home and take a shower afterwards to get the champagne out of her hair," he said.

"We (ZM) were keen to get her explanation, so we called and asked her why she did it. There was definitely no apology made on the phone. She did say it was 'unfortunate'.

"Nat is sad and disappointed that she got soaked in champagne," he said.

"As a mother of two very young boys it was a rare chance to go out to something flash, that had a sad ending. Nobody wants anybody getting nasty emails, we're keen to move on and put it behind us.

"I feel for my wife, and I guess I was fishing for an apology that never came."

ZM operations manager Christian Boston said the Cotton interview that went to air was in context.

"I do not believe he was unprofessional. Flynny is a nice guy with a young family whose night was spoiled.

"If someone throws champagne at your wife in public, you're going to ask some questions," said Boston.