Sydney: The chairman of the Australian media company that owns the radio station responsible for the infamous royal prank call to India-born British nurse Jacintha Saldanha which led her to suicide has dismissed the controversy, saying "shit happens".
Max Moore-Milton, chairman of the Southern Cross Media that owns 2Day FM, downplayed the incident while speaking at the company`s annual general meeting (AGM), the Sydney Morning Herald reported Tuesday.
"These incidents were unfortunate, no doubt about that," Moore-Wilton was quoted as telling the shareholders.
"But in the immortal words of someone whose identity I cannot recall, shit happens," he said.
Saldanha, 46, a mother of two, was found unconscious in December last year in the quarters of the King Edward VII Hospital in central London where she was working as a senior nurse.
2Day FM`s radio jockeys Mel Greig and Michael Christian had called the hospital Dec 4 last year posing as Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles.
Saldanha received the call and, not understanding their prank, transferred it to a colleague who then provided them information about Prince William`s then pregnant wife Kate Middleton. Three days later, Saldanha was found hanging.
"I think it was a one-sentence comment, wasn’t it?” Moore-Milton was quoted saying when asked whether he regretted what he said.
“I have no comment, I made a comment in one sentence. I am glad the media is so busy,” he added.
Southern Cross was forced to suspend all advertising on 2Day FM after the scandal broke.
