Billionaire James Packer & TV Executive David Gyngell Beat The Crap Out Of Each Other On A Sydney Street

[blighted star]

This is just plain embarrassing


Welcome to this weeks episode of ... *** DUELLING MEDIA MOGULS ***

Gambling billionaire James Packer and Channel Nine chief executive David Gyngell have issued a joint statement regarding their public punch-up in Bondi, saying that they remain "friends".

"We have been friends for 35 years and still are," read the statement released via Channel Nine.

"In that time we have had our fair share of ups and downs.

"We respect each other and neither of us will be commenting further."

The pair came to blows outside Mr Packer's waterfront home on Sunday afternoon, with one witness describing the men as "fighting like dogs" in the street.

A neighbour has told the ABC that Mr Gyngell was waiting outside the building and had a profanity laden phone conversation before Mr Packer pulled up, got out of his car and threw the first punch.



Chris Walker, who says he lives nearby, says he saw the fight and posted about it on Facebook.

"Holy crap, big street fight outside my house ... Not thugs, James Packer ... And some other angry bloke going toe to toe - total brawl ... Wow," he said.

Further down in his post he went into more detail, saying: "Packer packered (sic) a punch but copped a couple of hits straight to the jaw... Then they all fell on the concrete fence and I think the other guy broke his face ... They were looking for teeth after he left.... I was so thrilled, with a camera in my hand I didn't take a pic"

Today, a large media contingent gathered outside Mr Packer's house, where Mr Gyngell was said to have visited this morning.

Media mogul Lachlan Murdoch arrived at Mr Packer's home this afternoon and spent nearly two hours inside.

News Corp has published photos of the fight after having reportedly paid $200,000 for them.

Some of the photos are said to show Mr Packer on the ground choking Mr Gyngell.

It is not yet clear what the fight was about.

Nine Entertainment Co. Holdings is the owner of the Nine network, one of the nation's largest broadcasters.

Mr Packer has a stake in rival Ten Network Holdings, although the fight was not believed to be connected to businesses.

The pair attended the same school and are former flatmates, and Mr Gyngell was best man at Mr Packer's wedding to his second wife, Erica.

A witness told Network Ten he heard Mr Gyngell yelling on a phone that he was waiting for Mr Packer, who arrived home soon after.

No words were exchanged as the two "went at it hammer and tongs", Ten said, citing the witness.

The fight had to be broken up by Mr Packer's security guards and a limo driver.

In calmer times


http://m.heraldsun.com.au/news/packe...-1226906115145

[hamdinger125]

"Gambling billionaire?" I have no idea who these guys are, but this story is making me giggle. Because its funny when old, out-of-shape white guys try to fight. :)

And that guy looks way older than 47, at least in that one photo with the white hair.

[blighted star]

"Gambling billionaire?" I have no idea who these guys are, but this story is making me giggle. Because its funny when old, out-of-shape white guys try to fight. :)

And that guy looks way older than 47, at least in that one photo with the white hair.

He's the son of Kerry Packer, what media Rupert Murdoch didn't own in the 80's, Kerry Packer did - which is why Murdoch's son Lachlan visited the brawl address the next morning. He was probably brokering a peace deal.

It is funny. Doesn't matter how many billions you've got, you can still get ya teeth knocked out in Bondi like the rest of the great unwashed.

In fact, as rich as he is, he even looks like one of the great unwashed in this.

[blighted star]

Bondi police really crack down on street violence, so perhaps the most UNamusing thing is the distinct lack of any mention of pending charges of assault, affray or disorderly behaviour.

Someone better be charged. What a fucking rort.



ETA I take it back. NSW Police are investigating. Now to see if it's just for show -

Sporting a black eye, James Packer returned to work this morning as police confirmed they will be investigating the billionaire businessman's brawl with long-time friend David Gyngell.

Video emerged of the brawl between Packer and Nine boss David Gyngell which shows three men trying to restrain the pair on a Bondi street.

The video comes after the publication of images by News Corp on Monday first exposed the stoush.

Bondi brawl: James Packer and David Gyngell trade blows

Is Miranda Kerr dating Australian billionaire James Packer?

According to the organisation, an angry text from James Packer to Gyngell demanding he remove a Channel Nine news truck from outside his Bondi Beach home is believed to have sparked the fist

Packer had recently arrived back in Sydney from Jerusalem and Gyngell is heard yelling in the video: "I didn't even know you were in f***ing Australia", News Corp said on its website.

[u2addict]

you can put perfume on a pig....

[blighted star]

http://www.theage.com.au/nsw/james-p...506-zr5nu.html

Pressure is mounting for charges to be laid over James Packer and David Gyngell's Bondi Beach bust-up after police launched an investigation following outrage from community leaders, lawyers, a former policeman and victims of violence.

Robert McEwen, whose son Michael, 23, narrowly escaped death after a single punch at a Bondi bus stop last year, said it was "crazy" that a 21-year-old man died from an alleged one-punch attack in Minchinbury on Sunday, the same day Mr Packer and Mr Gyngell sparred on the footpath of Sir Thomas Mitchell Road.

"It's ironic that several times we've been on the Today program and on 60 Minutes talking about this issue, about the violent culture we live in and yet you've got the head of Channel Nine who apparently is unable to control his anger," he said.

"These are two guys who are leading figures in our society. They're successful, wealthy men. If they can't sort out their own differences without resorting to violence, what do we expect from young kids? What sort of an example does it set?"

On Tuesday, eastern suburbs police began an investigation, despite not receiving a complaint from either party.

Detectives door-knocked neighbours and called for witnesses to come forward.

In a statement read on Channel Nine by journalist Tom Steinfort on Tuesday morning, Mr Gyngell said he would co-operate with police and "fully accepts that he was (the) instigator of the incident and that clearly if he had not turned up at Packer's premises in an angry mood then the confrontation would never have occurred".

An assault charge did not require a complaint from a victim but there was often insufficient evidence for it to stand up in court without one, said criminal solicitor Nick Breen from Armstrong Legal.

Photos or witness statements could provide sufficient evidence if no complaint was made.

Mr Breen said an admission of guilt, such as Mr Gyngell's statement, could provide further evidence but would not compel police to act.

"Police have a discretion if they think the charge won't be maintained," he said.

A charge of affray, when a person used unlawful violence towards another and conduct that would cause a person to fear for their safety, was also possible and carried a maximum 10-year sentence.

Former policeman Paul Miles and former NRMA director Richard Talbot made complaints to police on Monday, demanding charges be laid.

"At a time when the public is very concerned about public assaults, it is wrong for police not to investigate," Mr Talbot said. "Not to is to provide the message that, because you are rich and powerful, the law that applies to the rest of us doesn’t apply to you."

Mr Miles received a response from Central Metropolitan Region acting assistant commissioner Mark Walton confirming the matter was "the subject of an investigation".

New Police Minister Stuart Ayres even weighed in, saying the fight was "clearly... something that wouldn't be accepted by anyone in the community".

Security guard Fady Taiba, who was in a coma for three weeks after an alleged punch from investment banker James Longworth outside a George Street bar, said it was "absolutely wrong" to let the fight go unpunished.

"I’ve got four young boys, the last thing I want is for this to happen to one of them because the law hasn’t sent the right message," he said.

Lawyer Stephen Molloy said, if two ordinary men fought on the streets of Mount Druitt, they would be charged, "and rightly so".

"When two well-educated men commit such a crime it is less excusable than men of less advantaged background," he said. "Police should investigate and prosecute if the evidence is sufficient."

lololol. Can they visit the U.S with assault convictions?

[g r ee n ey e s]

I kinda feel like who gives a fuck?

[blighted star]

That's understandable, most people in the U.S won't have heard of him, & if they have, it'll be recent, they won't have spent decades watching his entitled spoiled brat idiocy. It's hard to explain what a huge deal it is down here.

I don't know who to compare them to in the U.S for an equivalent level of $$ & power & public disdain. James Packer was the 3rd richest man in the world in 2008, thanks to his late father. These days, thanks to himself, he's about 15th.

It's not the right mix at all, but maybe Michael Bloomburg brawling in the street with Rupert Murdoch ? Or a current president rolling in the dirt with an ex-president? That'd get a little attention at least wouldn't it?

At first it was just funny, which is why it's in weird & bizarre. Bondi's famous for brawls & glassings so seeing the richest, most powerful men in Australia eating dirt in the gutter like a couple of the ill-bred beer-swilling welfare recipients they so despise was highly amusing.

Now it's hitting a new level of funny because 2 men who were previously above the law since childhood, may actually be about to cop real consequences for the first time in their lives. Packer at least frequently travels to the U.S for business. He's going to drop a lot further than 15th position if he can't get into the U.S anymore.

[blighted star]

It's getting funnier ... Latest : BILLIONAIRE BRAWL WAS OVER MIRANDA KERR

http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/cele...506-zr56v.html

They're already nursing injuries believed to include a black eye and a missing tooth from their very public dust-up on a Bondi street.

Now, James Packer and David Gyngell are copping another bruising, this time in the international press.

The fist fight between the billionaire and television executive was said to be over supermodel and former Victoria's Secret model Miranda Kerr.

So is it little wonder that Fleet Street newspapers and publications as varied as The Hollywood Reporter, the Times of India, the South China Morning Post and an Irish women's website have given blow-by-blow accounts of the pair's violent showdown outside Packer's multimillion-dollar beach pad?

"They look for all the world like two drunken louts brawling in the gutter after being ejected from a seedy pub," London's The Independent reported under the headline "Billionaire Fight Club" on Monday, alongside a photograph of Packer, Australia's richest man, wearing a pair of dark sunglasses.

"But the fight – captured in photographs which are set to go viral – took place between two of Australia’s leading businessmen, the billionaire James Packer and the TV executive David Gyngell, two men who were once the closest of friends."

The Hollywood Reporter played up Packer's business relationship with Hollywood filmmaker Brett Ratner, who is behind films including the Rush Hour series, X-Men: The Last Stand, The Family Man and Red Dragon.

Packer and Ratner in 2012 former a joint venture, RatPac Entertainment, to produce independent films and co-produce studio films.

Sunday's brawl could have come straight from one of their action movies, The Hollywood Reporter said. As it turns out, Packer was wearing a cap bearing the logo of his film production company during the brawl.

"A sunny, if chilly, Sunday afternoon on a quiet street in Sydney's cosmopolitan Bondi Beach area," The Hollywood Reporter began.

"Two 40-something men are engaged in a violent street brawl, which only ends when they are pried apart by a shocked bodyguard.

"It's a scene that might play out in a Brett Ratner movie. Instead, the action centers on Ratner's real-life Australian partner in RatPac Entertainment, billionaire gambling magnate James Packer, and his childhood friend and Nine Entertainment CEO, David Gyngell."

In Ireland, the Independent Woman website ran the story prominently below a photograph of Miranda Kerr, Packer's rumoured new girlfriend.

Packer and Gyngell were believed to be fighting after a Channel Nine van was seen parked near Packer's beachside retreat, which Packer believed was there to film a possible visit from Kerr. It turned out the Channel Nine employee lived nearby and had taken the work van home ahead of an early-morning job the following day.

"Fighting over Miranda - Two Australian tycoons' brawl on Bondi Beach footpath over world-renowned supermodel," the Independent Woman story read.

Photographs of the pair trading punches proved to be a headline writers' dream, and the press coverage may end up being more painful for the pair than the physical fall-out.

Never known for its subtlety, the Northern Territory News screamed from its front page: "WHY I'VE GOT A PACKER UP MY CLACKER".

It was a reference to an infamous front-page headline the newspaper ran in 2012 about a man who suffered serious burns when a firecracker exploded in his backside. That headline read: "WHY I STUCK A CRACKER UP MY CLACKER".

The Northern Territory News, a News Corp Australia publication, also joked to its Twitter followers: "WHO WANTS TO BEAT A MILLIOINAIRE?", and claimed the story was "Fist on Nine".

News Corp is believed to have paid more than $200,000 for photographs and video footage of a punch-up, and The Daily Telegraph ran nine pages on the spat on Tuesday. Heavily watermarked images were also running on News Corp websites.

Packer and Gyngell issued a joint statement on Monday saying they had been friends for 35 years “and still are”, adding that “in that time we have had our fair share of ups and downs”.

This, presumably, would be one of those downs

.