Billionaire Adrian Portelli has stepped up his war of words with a star journalist after she called him out in a new article published on Monday evening.
On Saturday, Portelli encouraged his 461,000 Instagram followers to “bully” Fiona Byrne, even offering $5,000 for the best takedown, after revealing he felt like she “disrespected” him.
“What followed was more than 24 hours of my Instagram being bombarded by thousands of vile, derogatory, offensive, misleading, insulting, factually incorrect and downright stupid and ridiculous comments,” Byrne wrote in the Herald Sun.
Portelli had taken umbrage after Byrne revealed Channel Nine was investigating one of its top stars, Alex Cullen, for accepting $50,000 from him for using a nickname he preferred in an explosive commentary money scandal.
The highly respected Byrne said she was called a s***, c***, b****, dog, bogeyman, pig, fat bulldog and prostitute, among other things, and was also threatened with physical violence.
In her new article titled “I'll Tell You What You Can Do With Your $50,000,” she demanded an apology from Portelli and said the barrage of hate made her feel “unsafe, both online and in real life.”
Byrne suggested what the wealthy lister could do instead with the money he gave Cullen.
“How about donating the $50,000 that would be given to Cullen to an anti-bullying and cyberbullying charity, such as Dolly's Dream or the Alannah & Madeline Foundation,” Byrne wrote.
Billionaire Adrian Portelli (pictured) has stepped up his war of words with a star journalist after she called him out in an article published on Monday evening
On Saturday, Portelli encouraged his 461,000 Instagram followers to 'bully' Fiona Byrne (pictured) and even offered $5,000 for the best takedown
Portelli, however, was far from apologetic. Addressing Byrne on social media, he wrote: “It's time for you to get a taste of your own medicine. There is no bullying here.
“I just want to emphasize that it is not nice to refer to someone by a nickname that you are not allowed to use politely.”
There are now calls for authorities to investigate the 35-year-old entrepreneur after thousands of cyberbullies flooded her social media account with vile and misogynistic insults.
The incident occurred after Byrne reported that Today Show host Alex Cullen had been fired for accepting a $50,000 cash payment from Portelli as part of an ill-advised on-air stunt.
The businessman then took offense at being referred to as “Lambo Guy” in the headline of Byrne's story.
'Come on Fiona. You can do better,” he posted on Instagram.
'Be respectful and use my real name, otherwise I will make up a nickname for you and throw it on my socials.'
Billionaire promoter Adrian Portelli explains why he encouraged his 461,000 followers to 'bully' respected Herald's Sun journalist Fiona Byrne on social media
Today, show sports presenter Alex Cullen has been sacked as Nine investigates the cash for comment scandal
Portelli then called on his followers to suggest suitable nicknames for Ms Byrne before encouraging fans to 'bully' her online.
“If journalists want to bully, let's bully back,” he wrote before tagging her personal account and offering the prize money.
“$5,000 best response to (Ms. Byrne's) profile.”
The Rich Lister's call-out flooded the highly regarded, award-winning journalist's account with inappropriate and false comments about her appearance and professionalism.
Portelli later issued what appears to be a veiled threat to unleash his army of followers on any journalist who dared to 'disparage' him – or refer to him by his unofficial nickname 'Lambo Guy'.
The LMCT+ founder donned the unwanted moniker when he arrived at Nine reality reno show The Block's auction in 2022 in a bright orange Lamborghini Murcielago SV.
'To be clear: I have no problem with journalists, right? They have a job to do,” he explained in a video posted to his Instagram feed late Saturday night.
Portelli was nicknamed 'Lambo Guy' after arriving at The Block's 2022 auction in a bright orange Lamborghini Murcielago SV
“They have food on the table, just like all of us, right?
'I have had many meetings with journalists over the years. They were all positive. I now consider many of these journalists my friends.
'So they are good people. Whether they write a good article about me or a negative article about me, there is nothing wrong with that. I have no problem with it.
“If I gave them a platform to write a negative article, that's entirely on me and no one's fault but myself. But as soon as you disrespect me, I will put my foot down.
“I feel like they're subconsciously trying to degrade me by giving me this nickname (Lambo Guy), and I'm over it.
'Unfortunately, Fiona bore the brunt of it. I told her many times to stop. She didn't. She survived.
“So I just wanted to show the media that I have a platform too. I can generate a large amount of traffic and I'm not afraid to use it. So maybe be a little more respectful, and I will respect you.”
Prominent Sydney lawyer Richard Mitry told Daily Mail Australia he was shocked by Portelli's behavior and said authorities must root out any attempt to use social media to bully and harass people – or encourage others to do so to put.
“We are talking about a journalist, a human being like any other, who is singled out and targeted for abuse. This is a serious matter,” he said.
'As for the authorities, there is a time when they need to show some teeth and send out a message that this kind of thing is completely unacceptable – because if he can get away with it, everyone else will think they can get away with it too.”
Former NSW Deputy Police Commissioner Mick Willing echoed the concerns, saying cyberbullying and harassment were an offense and had absolutely no place in society.
“Encouraging people to bully and intimidate others online – regardless of their age, gender or profession – is completely unacceptable,” the decorated former deputy commissioner said.
“I really hope the lady in the middle of this deplorable chaos is doing well; no one deserves to be targeted like that.”
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Portelli through his company LMCT+ for comment on the incident.
Byrne declined to comment.
The ugly pile-up came after Nine confirmed that Cullen had been taken off air and had taken his decision to accept $50,000 from Portelli 'extremely seriously'.
The promoter has attracted a legion of devoted followers on social media
Former NSW Deputy Police Commissioner Mick Willing says cyberbullying and harassment was an offense and had absolutely no place in society
The sports journalist, who joined the Today show five years ago, found himself in hot water after Portelli said last week he was tired of being referred to as “Lambo Guy” and would give $50,000 to the first journalist to publicly referred to him by his new self-proclaimed nickname 'McLaren Man'.
Cullen complied with the request live on Friday morning during a cross of the Australian Open with Today colleagues Karl Stefanovic and Sarah Abo.
The 44-year-old, who already has a $250,000-a-year deal with the Today show, then posted a clip of the exchange on Instagram – and even drew Portelli's attention to the video by tagging the billionaire promoter.
It worked: Portelli soon reposted the view, along with the caption, “I think we have a winner.”
Nine insiders said the stunt could have been mutually beneficial for both the network and Portelli, if only Cullen had informed the promoter that as a journalist he could not accept any payment for making the comment on air.
Accepting cash, gifts or benefits to undermine journalistic independence, and improperly using a journalistic position for personal gain, are both violations of the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance Code of Ethics for Journalists.
“What Alex should have done is refused to take any money and told Portelli to donate it directly to charity – if he wanted to get involved in the stunt at all,” a network insider told Daily Mail Australia.
Alex Cullen has stepped down after he and his Today show co-star Karl Stefanovic dropped Adrian Portelli's new nickname during a live Australian Open cross on Friday
“Portelli is such a great promoter that he might have even doubled the amount and everyone – including a well-deserving charity – would have looked great.”
That didn't happen.
Instead, Portelli posted a screenshot of a wire transfer Friday evening showing he had deposited $50,000 into Cullen's personal account.
“Alex is not an entertainer – he may be on the Today show, but he is supposed to be a serious journalist,” said a network insider.
“What he's done is he's completely blurred the lines here and it seems like Nine's journalism and journalists are up for sale.
“It looks awful and serious questions need to be asked as to why he would think it was even remotely okay to do that – it's literally money for comment.”
Nine said the money would be returned to Portelli and agreed those serious questions needed to be answered before Cullen had any hope of returning to the airwaves for the network.
“Nine is taking this matter very seriously,” a Nine spokesperson said.
“Appropriate action was immediately taken, including arranging for the return of the money.
“While we investigate the circumstances in which this occurred, Alex has agreed to resign.”
Cullen has been on the ground in the wake of the sandal and did not respond to a request to discuss the matter on Sunday.