An old photo showing a pay TV boss appearing to perform a Nazi salute has leaked online, sparking widespread outrage and a company wide apology.
Foxtel's chief executive Patrick Delany apologised after a photo of him appeared to show him performing a Sieg Heil during Fox Sports' A-League soccer coverage was leaked on Sunday.
Mr Delany said he was 'very sorry' in an all-in staff email, where he explained that the photo was from 10 years ago.
'While the context is important, the fact I demonstrated this offensive salute was wrong,' he said in the email, as seen by Crikey.
Mr Delany, who was chief executive of Fox Sports at the time, admitted to the outlet that the image was 'shocking'.
But then he claimed that it was 'demonstrating the similarity' between a Nazi salute and a gesture performed by Western Sydney Wanderers A-League fans during a chant.
'I am very sorry for my actions and sincerely apologise to people who have been hurt or offended, especially members of the Jewish community,' Mr Delany's email continues.
Mr Delany has been vocal in his opposition to anti-Semitism and was a signatory on 2023's Say No to Antisemitism letter alongside former premiers Daniel Andrews and Gladys Berejiklian and business leaders Lindsay Fox and Anthony Pratt.
Foxtel's chief executive, Patrick Delany, has apologised after a photo leaked showing him appearing to perform the Nazi Salute ten years ago
Mr Delany apologised for the unearthed footage in a company wide email on Sunday
Mr Delany said that he has 'searching in [his] mind' for any circ*mstance 'where a photo capturing me in this pose could ever be possible'.
'The picture is completely inconsistent with my values and beliefs, and family connections,' he wrote.
'Racism in all its forms is not acceptable, and I acknowledge the seriousness of my actions.'
Mr Delany urged staff who felt uncomfortable seeing the photo to email him their concerns directly.
Jewish and diversity groups have slammed Mr Delany's actions as 'deeply concerning' and an example of 'toxic workplace behaviours'.
NSW Jewish Board of Deputies president David Ossip accepted Mr Delany's full and unreserved apology to the Jewish community on Monday.
Mr Delany understood the 'offence and hurt that the [Nazi salute] causes Jewish Australians', MrOssip said.
'We accept Patrick's apology and recognise his and Lachlan Murdoch's strong and unequivocal repudiation of anti-Semitism in Australia over the past 10 months.'
Mr Murdoch is the chairperson ofNews Corp, which owns a majority stake in Foxtel Group.
He said there was 'no room for equivocation' during an address to Australian staff late last year.
'Anti-Semitism does not belong in Australia. It is our duty to address and tackle it, as it is to address and tackle all forms of hatred,' Mr Murdoch told staff.
Mr Delany was madechief executive of Foxtel Group in 2018 and had been pivotal in redefining the broadcaster as adigital first company.
Earlier this month, Global News Corp's chief executive Robert Thomson announced that Foxtel was up for sale.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Foxtel and News Corp for comment.
Mr Delany encouraged any staff who were made uncomfortable by the footage to contact him with their concerns
In the company wide email, Patrick Delany said he had been'searching in [his] mind' for any circ*mstance 'where a photo capturing me in this pose could ever be possible'
Australian soccer fans have been called out for performing Nazi salutes during heated matches in the past.
In April, a Western Sydney fan who was caught making a Nazi salute at an A-League match was banned for two years from attending matches.
In 2022,Nikola Marko Gasparovic, Dominik Sieben and Marijan Lisica all faced charges for allegedly performing similar gestures during theAustralia Cup final betweenSydney United 58 and Macarthur.
They were each charged with knowingly displaying by public act a Nazi symbol without a reasonable excuse.
All Australian states and territories have sinceintroduced new laws to make it a criminal offence to perform the Nazi salute in public.
The Nazi salute and other hate symbols were also outlawed under new federal counter terrorism laws put in place in January.
Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said the bill sent a message that 'there is no place in Australia for acts and symbols that glorify the horrors of the Holocaust and terrorist acts'.
