Sam Newman has doubled down on his controversial comments about the woman raped by celebrity agent Ralph Carr, declaring he has no regrets even as women’s advocates accuse him of victim-blaming.
The former AFL star used the latest episode of his You Cannot Be Serious podcast, titled Simpletons Exposed, to deliver an extended defence of remarks that triggered widespread condemnation.
Newman had previously suggested the victim ‘might have had some buyer’s remorse’.
Podcast co-host Wayne Carey urged Newman not to form an opinion based only on reading news reports about the case while he continued his long European holiday.
Carr, 66, was found guilty by a Victorian County Court jury on July 28 of two counts of rape and one count of sexual assault.
Newman says his ‘buyer’s remorse’ remark referred to the decision to consume cocaine and alcohol at Carr’s home, and was not a reference to the sexual assault.
Sam Newman has refused to apologise after his ‘buyer’s remorse’ comments about Ralph Carr’s rape victim sparked widespread backlash
Celebrity agent Ralph Carr was convicted of two counts of rape and one count of sexual assault in July
‘Buyer’s remorse means it’s a bad idea,’ Newman said.
‘It’s a generic term often used, not about just buying properties, but buyer’s remorse means it’s not a good idea.
‘And I couldn’t think of a more appropriate term to use, saying I would reckon there was a bit of buyer’s remorse.
‘Snorting coke and drinking alcohol when you go around to have a potential business meeting, it probably won’t end well. That’s what buyer’s remorse means. It’s not a good idea.’
Newman insisted he had not attempted to defend Carr, minimise the crimes or blame the victim.
‘Someone’s been charged and convicted of rape and someone’s been raped,’ he said.
He claimed his original questions had been prompted by his limited knowledge of the proceedings while travelling overseas.
‘I saw that a person I know … had been accused, convicted and not yet sentenced to rape,’ Newman said.
Anti-violence campaigner Sherele Moody accused Newman of questioning the victim’s credibility and called for his removal from media
‘I said, ‘Well, what is all that about?’ And he’s been convicted. There must have been irrefutable evidence that he did this.’
Newman said his questions about the case were wrongly interpreted as an attempt to support Carr.
‘People who want to create mischief insinuated that I was carrying water for Carr and was trying to downplay whatever he’d done,’ he said.
‘Nothing could be further from the truth.’
However, women’s advocates said Newman’s explanation did not erase the impact of his original remarks.
Anti-violence campaigner and femicide researcher Sherele Moody accused him of questioning the validity of the verdict and attacking the victim’s credibility.
‘Football commentator and media dude Sam Newman just claimed the woman raped by sports manager Ralph Carr had ‘buyer’s remorse’ and questioned the veracity of the evidence of the rapist’s crimes,’ she wrote.
‘I hope Newman is cancelled by AFL and by every media outlet that platforms him.
Newman described criticism from women’s advocates as manufactured indignation and declared he had no regrets about speaking out
‘How dare he stand up and call a rape victim a liar.’
Moody stressed that Carr had been convicted by a jury after the woman endured what she described as a ‘gruelling and demeaning cross examination’.
Women’s Agenda writer Rita Nasr also argued the phrase ‘buyer’s remorse’ undermined the victim without Newman needing to directly accuse her of lying.
‘Buyer’s remorse’ reframes a jury verdict, reached after evidence substantial enough to convict, in a legal system where rape convictions are notoriously rare, as a matter of a woman’s second thoughts after the fact,’ Nasr wrote.
‘It is one of the oldest and most effective ways to undercut a survivor’s credibility without directly calling her a liar.’
Nasr said the controversy reflected a broader culture in which women’s ‘bodies, choices and credibility’ remained open to debate.
Newman acknowledged the criticism from women’s lobby groups during his response but dismissed the backlash as ‘manufactured feigned indignation’.
He also rejected reports that Carey had shut him down during their original exchange.
Carey had told him: ‘Sam, Sam, given that you’re in Sicily and you are only going off what you are reading, I’d probably suggest you don’t have an opinion about it. Just like I don’t.’
Newman said Carey was merely saying neither of them knew enough about the case to discuss it.
‘I said, ‘I’m just asking some questions about it. If you don’t know anything about it, that’s all right. Say so,’ Newman said.
The 80-year-old claimed his remarks had been circulated without the references to cocaine and alcohol that clarified their meaning.
‘I would think both of them had extreme buyer’s remorse by snorting coke and drinking alcohol,’ he said.
‘I have no problem and I have no regrets about what I said.
‘I never say anything I regret and I never take anything back I said as long as it’s taken in context and you hear the full story.’
Carr raped and sexually assaulted the woman at his Melbourne home in March 2023 after she visited to discuss possible work.
He denied the allegations and pleaded not guilty but was convicted on all three charges. Carr remains in custody ahead of sentencing and intends to appeal.
