Violence in Sydney restaurant

Multi-Millionaire radio owner John Singleton has dismissed an ugly incident in which he reportedly “slashed” mate and fellow media executive Jack Cowin’s ear with a broken wine glass as “a total joke”.

A long lunch at a top Sydney restaurant turned ugly when Singleton, 73, had to be restrained after lunging at his dining companion with the glass over his alleged choice of rose wine over beer.

Staff at Kingley’s Steak & Crabhouse in Woolloomooloo were pictured holding the wealthy septuagenarian back during the confrontation before he was photographed lunging at photographers outside. The pictures were splashed over the front page of today’s Daily Telegraph today.

The businessman has been pummelled with criticism over the incident, but in a text message to Triple M presenter Matty Johns this morning, Singleton allegedly tried to water down the situation.

“Mate, total joke ... trying to lighten up the world,” Johns claimed Singleton texted him.

“A joke gone wrong, gone public, we’ve both been suspended nine weeks.”

Johns said the rambling message went on to say “other stuff” that he couldn’t quite work out, but there was definitely no apology.

“Life very unfair, my Facebook and Twitter both blocked,” the text allegedly went on.

“He’s talking about other stuff there but I can’t even work it out ... he’s not very good with the text,” Johns said.

 John Singleton lashes out at Sydney cameraman

 

Earlier, Singleton was asked to respond to the incident, bizarrely referencing himself in the third person.

“Singleton was displeased with this and whacked Cowin over the head with a bottle,” Mr Singleton bizzarely said of the incident when asked to respond to the restaurant fracas.

Mr Cowin also seemed unfazed by the ugly scene, describing the altercation as a result of “a long lunch — you know how these things go ... we were just like bear cubs playing around in a cage”.

After the bust-up, Mr Singleton and Mr Cowin, who had also been dining with troubled former Noiseworks musician Jon Stevens at the time, then left to the nearby Bells Hotel. But not before an alleged run-in with a cameraman outside.

Asked about the row inside, Mr Singleton at first claimed it was “over a woman” then, asked about his view on violence, he lunged at the camera screaming “I f-----g love it! I f-----g love it!”

Mr Singleton was later seen leaving the hotel at 6.45pm when his chauffeur-driven limousine collected him.

Mr Cowin, 72, is the billionaire founder of the Hungry Jack’s fast food chain and has been a director of the Fairfax board since 2012.

Mr Singleton, a horseracing lover who has seven children from six marriages, once shouted free drinks to everyone at the Rosehill racecourse after a big win.

He and Mr Cowin are said to be friends of more than four decades.

Mr Singleton recently sold a 54.5 per cent stake of his majority-owned Macquarie Radio Network to Fairfax for $200 million.