Latest news with #PaulKent
Daily Mail
17 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Man who threw footy commentator Paul Kent into a tree during wild street fight has a huge win in court
The man who was involved in a wild brawl with Paul Kent has had the affray charge against him dropped after pleading self defence and alleging that the former Fox Sports star spat at him during their infamous street brawl. On Monday, Tamer Uzun appeared at Manly Local Court in relation to the altercation that took place outside Totti's restaurant in Rozelle in April 2024. Uzun had one charge of affray dismissed after Magistrate Michael Blair heard submissions from prosecutors and Uzun's legal counsel, who argued their client had acted in self-defence. In July, Kent had attempted to have his affray charge dealt with on the grounds of his mental health. The 55-year-old failed in that application and was slapped with a good behaviour bond, but avoided a criminal conviction. Kent parted ways with NewsCorp and Fox after a video of the brawl went viral online. Kent (in black pants and T-shirt, centre) and Uzun (far left) made headlines when footage of their physical clash went viral On Monday, Uzun's legal counsel, Bryan Wrench, told the court that his client was sober at the time and did not initiate the wild brawl. 'Mr Kent is the person provoking the incident and our client has had to defend himself,' Wrench argued. Kent acknowledged accusations that he had consumed 21 beers across the space of 11 hours at the Sackville Hotel prior to the physical clash in comments made in February. The court was shown footage of the moment that Kent advanced through a group of people towards Uzun before the scuffle unfolded. The melee ended with Kent, 55, being thrown into a tree. He suffered six broken ribs and a collapsed lung as a result. Prosecutor Sergeant Adrian Walsh argued that Uzun had thrown punches and had not attempted to curtail the incident. Uzun had been at the restaurant for a birthday and had been waiting for his partner outside the restaurant. Kent accused Uzun of 's**t-potting' him, but during Monday's court hearing, Uzun denied any allegations that he had attempted to provoke the situation. 'At the start, I thought it was a joke,' Uzun said. The court also heard Uzun's claim that Kent (pictured) spat at him during the melee 'I didn't know what he was talking about, we were laughing about the accusations.' He had told Kent to 'f*** off' and 'keep going', but added that the NRL reporter had continued to remonstrate with him. In the video, Kent can also be seen attempting to take off his watch. Noting the moment, Uzun told the court that he had thought 'this bloke's going to bash me'. He added that he had attempted to strike Kent as the melee exploded into the middle of the road. Uzun alleged that Kent had got back to his feet after being thrown into the tree, before he allegedly spat at him. 'I didn't want a fight,' Uzun said, replying to suggestions by Sergeant Walsh that he had 'beckoned' to Kent to come at him. Handing down his judgement, Magistrate Michael Blair explained that it could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt that Uzun had acted unreasonably in the process of throwing a punch at Kent. He acknowledged that Uzun had taken his jumper off in preparation for the fracas before adding that Uzun had not helped the situation by furiously firing back at Kent. But noting that Kent was the 'more aggressive' party, Magistrate Blair chose to dismiss the affray charge against Uzun, adding: 'In the circumstances and with all the evidence, it cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.'
News.com.au
2 days ago
- News.com.au
‘Going to bash me': Man involved in Paul Kent brawl claims self defence
A man who was involved in a wild brawl with Paul Kent has told a court that he was afraid the rugby league journalist and commentator was going to 'bash' him during a now-infamous incident outside a Sydney restaurant. Tamer Uzun, 37, on Monday appeared in Manly Local Court for a hearing after pleading not guilty to one count of affray stemming from his altercation with Kent outside Totti's Rozelle in April last year. In footage which quickly went viral on social media, Kent pushed past several people before trading blows with Mr Uzun on the public street, with the fight ending when Kent was thrown into a tree. The prosecution has argued Mr Uzun threw punches and failed to de-escalate the incident when he continued to trade verbal barbs with Kent and took off his jumper. Police prosecutor Sergeant Adrian Walsh told the court on Monday that Mr Uzun threw punches before grabbing and throwing Kent into a tree. However Mr Uzun's solicitor Bryan Wrench told the court his client was acting in self defence. He said that Mr Uzun, who was sober at the time, was wrongly accused of making comments towards Kent. 'Mr Kent is the person provoking the incident and our client has had to defend himself,' Mr Wrench told the court. Mr Wrench told the court that a 'thoroughly intoxicated' Kent had consumed 21 beers over 11 hours at the nearby Sackville Hotel and was walking home at the time of the confrontation. Mr Uzun told the court on Monday that he was at the popular restaurant for a birthday and was waiting outside for his partner. Video played to the court showed Kent and another man walking past but they doubled back and accused Uzun and his friend of 's---potting' him. In court on Monday, Mr Uzun denied that either he or his friend made a comment to provoke Kent. 'At the start I thought it was a joke,' Mr Uzun told the court. 'I didn't know what he was talking about, we were laughing about the accusations.' Mr Uzun said he told Kent to 'f--k off' and 'keep going'. He said that backed up as Kent was 'swearing and carrying on'. Mr Uzun told the court that Kent took off his watch and pushed past several people to ignite the brawl. Asked what his state of mind was at that point, Mr Uzun said: 'This bloke's going to bash me.' He said he attempted to strike Kent as the brawl spilled onto the roadway. 'And that's when he ended upside down in the tree,' Mr Uzun said. He said that he was crash tackled into the gutter by a man who was with Kent. When he got up, Mr Uzun told the court that Kent abused him again and spat at him. He told the court that he went back into the restaurant, asked for the manager and requested they preserve CCTV footage. He suffered bruises on his neck and head and grazes on his shoulder. Sgt Walsh told the court that Uzun 'beckoned' Kent and moved towards him on a number of occasions despite the presence of a security guard. 'I didn't want a fight,' Mr Uzun told the court. He also asked him why he had taken off his jumper and handed it to his friend and had not walked back into the restaurant. 'That was you throwing Mr Kent into a tree,' Sgt Walsh asked. 'Push Mr Kent away,' Mr Uzun replied. 'You agree it was more of a throw,' Sgt Walsh asked. 'A bit of both,' Mr Uzun said. The hearing before Magistrate Michael Blair continues. Kent in July last year failed in his bid to have a one charge of affray dealt with on mental health grounds before he pleaded guilty. Kent did not have a conviction recorded against him and he was sentenced to a two-year good behaviour bond. He departed Fox Sports and The Daily Telegraph following the incident.
Forbes
17-06-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Accessibility In 2025: Forces, Finance, And The Future
After decades of halting advances, the field of Accessibility for people with disabilities has reached not a fork in one road—it's smack in the middle of a bustling (and often contentious) convergence of many forces from many directions. There are imperatives from legal and moral to societal and financial. Disabilities physical, sensory and cognitive. Politics and profit. Them, me. All crashing into each other in ways never seen before. There is little consensus on where accessibility will emerge from all this. But if experts agree on anything, it's that the business community will play a significant role. Progress will rely on good, old-fashioned entrepreneurship and investment in AI-driven communication devices, exoskeletons, consumer products and much more. 'Accessibility has been an ignored space from investment capital,' says Paul Kent, the managing partner of the Disabled Life Alliance, which connects and facilitates deals between private investors and innovators in the accessibility space. 'It's been thought of as a small market, which is ridiculous. There's a massive return associated with this. A lot of people believe social impact requires less than market-rate returns. But that's not true. This is not charity. It's an investible market.' Forbes' inaugural Accessibility 100 list gives a unique look at the industry as it stands today, and where it's headed. The list features the top innovators and impact-makers—from large companies to lone inventors—in sectors like mobility, communication, sports, entertainment and many more. Some make devices like 'smart canes' that can tell blind users where things are, from poles to the Starbucks entrance; while others build playgrounds for disabled children, or provide access from everything to the beach, the ballot box and a career in modeling. Profiles of all 100 appear on pages devoted to those categories; for example, education is here. Featuring companies and people from 15 countries, the list was compiled through more than 400 conversations with industry insiders over nine months, and with the guidance of an expert advisory board. Disabilities considered include physical, sensory and neurodivergent; types of accessibility include digital (technology, websites and so on), physical (access to public transportation and buildings) and experiences (sports, careers and the like). Emphasis was placed on breadth of impact felt now and expected in the near future. This page details the list's methodology and advisory board. Current debates over DEI (often called DEIA, the A for accessibility) often overlook one dynamic: the disabled community is the one minority which anyone of any race, gender, age or financial means can suddenly find themselves thrust into. The head of accessibility at a major communications company, who asked not to be identified given the current political climate, calls accessibility a 'casualty of war' over DEI policies—such as when the Trump administration stopped providing sign-language interpretation during broadcasts of press briefings, cutting them off to deaf and hard-of-hearing citizens. (The National Association of the Deaf immediately sued.) Likewise, stricter protections for disabled airline travelers instituted by the previous administraion—such as reimbursement for wheelchair damage and better training for flight personnel to increase safety—have been opposed by the airline industry, which is now seeking to delay, dilute, or remove them altogether. As such conflicts play out, companies and entrepreneurs currently changing the world of accessibility are, in ways surprisingly new, inviting people with all disabilities into design conversations and testing labs, heeding the community's mantra, 'Nothing about us without us.' Recently, as sign-language robotic hands were hailed by outsiders as possibly replacing expensive interpreters—a certainly worthwhile goal—the enthusiasm has obscured the reality that they didn't really serve the deaf and hard-of-hearing community yet. 'American Sign Language is 70 percent what we call nonverbal markers—it's your face, how your body moves, not just hand shapes,' says Kelby Brick, the chief operating officer of the National Federation of the Deaf. Usable innovation in the area, he suspects, would require AI-driven avatars that can convey that nuance. Not all advancements in accessibility are contentious. Many become universal. Closed captioning—originally designed for the deaf—has grown so ubiquitous that it has became one of many examples of what is now called 'the curb-cut effect,' so named after sloped curbs designed for people with disabilities wound up benefitting everyone, like those pushing strollers or pulling suitcases. Other instances include electric toothbrushes, speech-to-text and even bendable straws. Indeed, the preferred approach for many companies has become 'universal design,' where products and services are built from the start to serve everyone, rather than winding up immediately unusable by the disabled or clumsily retrofitted after the fact. Several firms, including Accessibility 100 listmakers Deque and Fable, now produce software that checks computer code as it's written to ensure that accessibility features work out of the box. OXO, also on the list, is a household name (literally) that designs all of its kitchen products to be easy for everyone, from smooth-turning can openers to tongs that close with one hand. One distinct feature of accessibility innovation is that companies—even direct competitors—enthusiastically share ideas and advances, even code, to hasten innovation for all. For example, Procter & Gamble invented raised icons that blind and low-vision people can feel to distinguish products like liquid soap, shampoo and laundry detergent from each other; the company is sharing them with others to make them standard. 'We're not just trying to do it alone,' says Sam Latif, P&G's Company Accessibility Leader. 'Doing it on a few products is not as impactful as the industry doing it together.' Apple operating systems have built accessibility features into its software since the 1980s, but when Steve Jobs insisted that the first iPhone have no buttons—making it almost unusable for blind people—it sparked faster and faster feature innovations, like haptic feedback, screen magnification, suppression of flashing content and hundreds more. There are so many, in fact, that Apple recently introduced App Store 'Accessibility Nutrition Labels' to let users know how each app serves their specific disability. 'It makes good business sense to make technology that works for everyone—we mean everyone,' says Sarah Herrlinger, Apple's top accessibility official. 'Accessibility is some of the most creative work we do.'
Daily Mail
12-06-2025
- Sport
- Daily Mail
Paul Kent drops bombshell about the mind-blowing revenge plot carried out by one of the NRL's most unassuming stars
Rugby league reporter Paul Kent has issued a bombshell revelation on why footy coach Ivan Cleary decided to return to Penrith. The four-time premiership-winning coach has previously opened up on the turn of events that led him to leave the Panthers back in 2015 after he was sacked by NRL legend Phil 'Gus' Gould. He and Gould have maintained a strained relationship since then, with the then-Panthers General Manager opting to wield the axe against the Premiership-winning coach because Cleary 'looked tired' and needed a break. But in a shocking revelation, Kent has claimed that Cleary returned to Penrith because he had 'unfinished business' before explaining that he went on to 'neck' Gould. During a Q&A session on Fanatics TV, Kent was asked: 'Can you tell us about the time Gus punted Ivan and his return?' 'I tell you what,' Kent said, appearing at first to choose his words carefully. 'Gus got rid of him [because] he said he was tired. Now my understanding of it was that Ivan had figured out that he probably didn't need Gus anymore. 'Gus recognised that. Gus moved him on. That's up for debate, you can look at that any way you like. 'Ivan went back and surprised a lot of people. I know he had a conversation with someone. 'They said: "Mate, why would you go back there after everything that had happened before?" 'And he said: "Because I've got unfinished business there." 'On the way through he's gone and necked Gus... so there's your mic drop.' In his book, Not Everything Counts But Everything Matters, which was released last year, Cleary paid tribute to Gould for his work at Penrith, but claimed their relationship had soured so much that it had ultimately culminated in his sacking in 2015. 'He did so much good for me, but he hurt me too,' the 54-year-old wrote, reflecting on his first spell in charge at the club. That fractious relationship has meant that Cleary has not spoken to Gus since he confronted Gould about his sacking when he rejoined the club in 2019. The 54-year-old ended his first spell at the Panthers with the club sitting rock bottom of the NRL. But after a two-year hiatus at the Wests Tigers, his return to the Panthers after Anthony Griffin's sacking surprised many, following his bitter exit. On his own motivations for rejoining Penrith, Cleary said that he gave the club an ultimatum that he would not take the reigns again unless Gould had zero no authority over him. 'I still feel so grateful that (former Penrith chairman) Dave O'Neill asked me for coffee that day and really put his own reputation on the line because it was controversial,' he wrote. 'When I came back initially, things weren't working out. 'Nathan wasn't playing well, I felt guilty about that. 'There was so much scrutiny and it certainly wasn't positive.' He added: 'I honestly didn't feel like I was the right man for the job, which was a lot to deal with because of how much I wanted to come back and how much it felt right.' Gould, meanwhile, left the club mid-way through 2019, and it was here that he denied that there had been a rift between the duo. 'Ivan's the right coach for the job going forward,' he said.
