Former NRL player Danny Williams will not appear on The Masked Singer because he is not famous enough.
Williams approached the show’s producers after his public singing provoked an attack in which he glassed a woman, and earned him a nomination for The Frownlow Medal Hall of Fame.
The Frownlow Medal is awarded to the player whose off-field demeanour epitomises the values of the modern-day footballer and draws attention to the status of footballers as role models to young Australians. It covers Australia’s four major football codes; the National Rugby League (NRL), Australian Football League (AFL), the A-League (Football) and Rugby Union’s Super Rugby competition. NRL player Shaun Kenny-Dowall won the inaugural medal in 2015, while NRL star Jarryd Hayne is the most recent recipient.
The Frownlow Medal Hall of Fame honours former players and players who received media attention in previous seasons, for similarly scandalous behaviour, and its inductees include Ben Cousins and Julian O’Neill.
Producers were not interested because Williams is not a household name and is not even famous among rugby league fans.
“He also can’t sing, and this is apparently why the woman threw a beer in his face. Admittedly, most of the celebrities on our show can’t sing, so our main concern was that he would attack one of our female judges if he was booted off the show,” explained producers.
“According to our research, Williams pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm. He allegedly smashed a beer glass on a woman’s head at The Oaks Hotel in Neutral Bay, Sydney, leaving her with a laceration. Even though she did not require hospital treatment, this behaviour is unacceptable on a family-friendly show, or anywhere in our society.”
The former Storm player was handed an 18-month community correction order to be of good behaviour and fined $1000.
This is not the first Frownlow nomination for Williams. He was in contention in 2018 for giving teammate Ben Roarty 30 stitches under his eye on an end of season trip to Hawaii during his playing days.
Williams is now attempting to follow other wayward footballers onto reality TV shows such as SAS Australia, Big Brother and I’m A Celebrity.
Image: NuNa
The Frownlow Medal 