Mark Cuthbert/UK Press via Getty ImagesThere was no prank call involved this time, but critics are wondering whether a bad call was made, nevertheless.
An Australian DJ involved in the tragic phone prank that led to the suicide of a nurse attending to Kate Middleton has once again stirred up controversy after he was given an award by his radio station.
Per Reuters, Michael Christian—who, along with cohost Mel Greig, pranked nurse Jacintha Saldanha, who was later found dead—has been awarded the "top jock" prize by the radio network he works for, Southern Cross Austereo.
The award, which supposedly recognizes the "best in the land," also included a trip to Los Angeles.
News of the accolade was met with widespread outrage by top Australian officials, who felt the award was in poor form.
In an interview with a Melbourne radio station, the country's national communications minister, Stephen Conroy, said: "To be seen to be rewarding people so soon after such an event, I think, is just in bad taste."
Days after the tragedy last December, Christian expressed his remorse over the prank, telling an Australian TV show that "there's not a minute that goes by where we don't think about her family and what they must be going through."
The DJs' radio station subsequently contributed to a memorial fund set up for Saldanha, committing to a minimum donation of $525,000.