Broadcaster Karl Stefanovic says he's free to "do whatever I want" after "getting the ass" from mainstream Australian media, in an interview with Piers Morgan.
The media personality spoke alongside Morgan in a tell-all video on Wednesday, hours after his contract with a radio network was severed and less than a week after his long TV tenure abruptly ended.
"I can do whatever I want now which is one of the side benefits of getting the ass," Stefanovic said.
Morgan, who was fired as editor of the Daily Mirror in 2004 and is frequency the face of controversy in the UK, empathised with his guest.
"What happened to you is very reminiscent to what happened to me," he said.
Stefanovic earlier left Nine's flagship breakfast program, Today, after the furore sparked by his interview with British far-right figure Tommy Robinson on the TV star's side hustle podcast.
When asked how he felt about the dismissal, Stefanovic said he felt "a bit discombobulated" but would continue to keep moving forward.
"It's painful ... (but) I'm not going to stop, we'll move on," he said.
"There's a part of me that feels free to really have my own freedom."
Describing his bond with Australians as integral to his career, Stefanovic said he felt even more compelled to continue with his work.
"I want to be there for them there now even more so," he expalined.
"I think they feel unheard ... there's a lot of stuff going on, it's really a divided community now (and) I just want to get busy."
In a separate video on The Karl Stefanovic Show YouTube page on Friday, soon after the severance from Nine was announced, the media personality said he was now "truly independent".
He had also been due to appear that day on the weekly radio show The Long Weekend, hosted by former Nine Network chief executive and AFL personality Eddie McGuire.
But Stefanovic did not feature in the episode, broadcast on the ARN-owned Pure Gold radio network, in which McGuire foreshadowed his fellow presenter would appear on the following week's show to explain his departure from Nine.
ARN has since ended ties between Stefanovic and the show, a move the company is expected to later confirm.
AAP has contacted Stefanovic and ARN for comment.
He has since deleted the podcast episode with Robinson, who has been accused of fuelling violent anti-immigration protests and Islamophobia in the UK.
In an earlier social media statement, Stefanovic said he believed in "different perspectives".
"So here's what I believe in: the public deserve to hear perspectives ... so on my show I've spoken to people who have different perspectives, I know that winds some people up," he said.
"Freedom of speech, here and around the world, is what this show is about."
Nine previously said it was no longer possible for Stefanovic to host Today at the same time as fronting his independent podcast.
"While Karl and Nine had previously agreed he would leave Today at the end of this year, they have subsequently decided he will leave the network immediately," the company said at the time.
But Morgan described the decision as "outrageous".
"This is an outrageous way to treat a guy who has done nothing wrong, who has been there on TV every morning for 20 years doing his best to entertain and inform and educate the country and this is how he gets treated after two decades of loyal service he gets absolutely shafted for doing his job," he said.
"That's all you did. you platformed someone who's already in the news and you talked to them and asked them questions."
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