Adele, Matt Doran: Seven reporter apologises for $1M interview gaffe

Channel Seven presenter Matt Doran has apologised to Adele for failing to listen to her new album before interviewing her in London two weeks ago.

Doran’s gaffe outraged her record label Sony, which refused to allow Seven to air the interview as part of its $1million package that also included broadcast rights to Adele’s One Night Only concert and her sit-down with Oprah Winfrey.

The Weekend Sunrise host, 37, told The Australian he was ‘mortified and unequivocally apologetic’ to the British singer, 33, for being so unprepared.

He explained that a problem with his emails meant he missed the ‘e-card’ link to the album, so he wasn’t able to listen to it after his flight from Sydney to London.

‘When I sat down to interview Adele, I was totally unaware that I’d been emailed a preview of her unreleased album,’ Doran said.

‘I have since discovered it was sent to me as an ‘e card’ link, which I somehow missed upon landing in London. It was an oversight but not a deliberate snub. This is the most important email I have ever missed.’ 

Reports surfaced on Sunday that an ‘offended’ Adele had ‘stormed out’ of the interview, which was filmed by Sony rather than a Seven crew, after Doran told her he’d only heard one song from her latest release.

Sony responded by banning the network from airing any part of the interview during its One Night Only package, for which Seven had paid $1million for exclusive rights.

Seven executives were said to be furious and ‘suspended’ Doran for two weeks. He returned to screens on Weekend Sunrise alongside Monique Wright on Saturday. 

However, the TV personality disputed this, saying the Someone Like You hitmaker ‘didn’t storm out’ and in fact agreed to speak to him for another nine minutes.

‘Adele didn’t storm out. In fact, it was the polar opposite. What was meant to be 20 minutes was extended to 29 minutes,’ he said.

‘The majority of the chat was about the album. I told her: “I’ve only had the privilege of hearing Easy on Me, but not the other tracks.” As part of a long discussion about the new album, I remark that it would be reductive to say it’s about heartbreak and divorce; instead, it’s about empowerment and hope.’

Doran said he’d ‘implored Sony to release the interview’ and also clarified he hadn’t been ‘suspended’ for the gaffe and was simply absent from Sunrise for one weekend.

The reporter had flown thousands of miles to London to chat with the pop star on November 4, but he awkwardly admitted during the interview he hadn’t actually listened to her new album, The Sunday Telegraph reported.

Doran reportedly sat down with the Hello hitmaker for a ’20-30 minute’ interview, during which he did not ‘ask a single question about the new album’.

When asked by Adele what he thought of her album 30, Doran admitted he had not listened to it.

An offended Adele then allegedly walked out of the interview; however, other sources claimed the interview was already finished by this time.

Although the sit-down was recorded, Sony has denied Seven the rights to air any portion of it.

A Sony spokesperson declined to comment.

The network is believed to have spent $1million on the ill-fated interview, an Oprah chat with Adele, and footage from her One Night Only concert.

Seven seemingly still has the rights to the latter two broadcasts because the network is continuing to advertise both on social media. 

‘Angry’ Seven executives went on to pull Doran off the air for a fortnight – but he has since denied this was a formal suspension.

The journalist’s gaffe was alluded to on Seven’s The Morning Show on Sunday when  he boasted he was a ‘monstrous fan’ of Adele while on air with co-host Kylie Gillies.

During the episode, Gillies was discussing the singer’s age, telling viewers: ‘With [the new album] being called 30, we’ve been asking in droves – how old is Adele?

‘It’s only right we should ask Australia’s biggest Adele fan, Matt Doran…’

Without hesitation, Doran responded: ‘I am a monstrous fan, Kylie.’ 

Seemingly having done his research after his interview stuff-up, he went on to list facts about Adele’s back catalogue, saying: ‘And this album follows other numerically titled albums.

‘Her debut was 19, then came 21, and then 25 – all reflecting the age she was when Adele wrote them. 30 was mostly written when she was 30 years old.’

Following a dramatic drum roll, Doran announced: ‘Today, on launch date, Adele is 33 years, 28 weeks and two days.’

Meanwhile, Adele fans mocked Doran on social media for his remarkable gaffe, with one writing on Facebook: ‘You had one obvious job and you messed up bad.’ 

‘Basic 101 in subject matter prep for an interview. Lesson learnt,’ another added. 

A third compared Matt’s error to participating in an exam but not studying.

However, others argued the decision to ‘suspend’ Matt wasn’t necessary, with one commenting: ‘I think two weeks suspension is a bit over the top.’

Other Aussie journalists soon joined the pile-on.

SBS presenter Marc Fennell tweeted: ‘Re: Adele / Channel Seven. I’ve spent over a decade interviewing major actors, musicians around the world. Negotiating access, researching for genuinely interesting convo? That’s the hard part.

‘Literally the *easiest* part is listening to the album on a 14-hour (likely business class) flight.

‘Look, no one knows the specifics of what went down but I *do* know that Adele would’ve been an incredible interview in the right hands and Channel Seven has many, many people that would’ve done a killer job.’

Elle and Marie Claire editor Alex Bruce-Smith wrote: ‘One million dollars and he didn’t even listen to the album. Every time I’ve thought about this story today I want to die a little.’

Author and podcast host Rosie Waterland added: ‘I just keep thinking… how bad must the interview have been, that Adele actually asked him if he’d listened to the album? One Google search would’ve revealed it’s about her divorce (at its simplest). He must have been so willfully uninterested for it to be obvious he knew nothing.’

Doran has had a successful career as a journalist, previously working for The Herald Sun newspaper, before signing with Channel 10 and then the Seven Network.

He is engaged to Channel Nine producer Kendall Bora.

Adele’s latest album has been lauded by fans and critics alike since it was released on November 19.  

Its lead single, Easy on Me, was released on October 15 to immediate success, topping the charts around the world.

While Adele hasn’t commented on her car-crash interview with Doran, she did share a tweet on Sunday hinting at the importance of listening to an album properly.

She reposted a link to a Pop Crave article about Spotify removing the shuffle button as the default option when playing albums.

‘This was the only request I had in our ever changing industry! We don’t create albums with so much care and thought into our track listing for no reason,’ she wrote.

‘Our art tells a story and our stories should be listened to as we intended. Thank you Spotify for listening.’

The streaming platform replied: ‘Anything for you.’