Skip to main content

'Racy pics' banker to keep his job

Click to play
Racy photos caught on camera
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • Banker caught looking at photos of semi-nude model on live TV
  • Firm says he will keep his job
  • Internet campaign launched in bid to save his job
  • Video of incident viewed more than 1.3 million times on YouTube
RELATED TOPICS

(CNN) -- A banker caught looking at photos of a semi-nude model on live TV will remain an employee of the Sydney-based Macquarie Private Wealth, the firm said Friday.

David Kiely became a Web sensation after he was filmed on Australian television admiring pictures on his computer screen of scantily-clad Miranda Kerr.

Kiely was opening e-mailed pictures of Kerr while one of his colleagues, Martin Lakos, was being interviewed on Channel 7 news behind him on Tuesday.

"In accordance with Macquarie established policies and practices and internal review, interview events of 2nd February has been completed," a company spokeswoman told CNN. "This review has been discussed with the employee and action taken. He will remain an employee of Macquarie. Macquarie and employee apologies for any offense that may have been caused."

A Web site was set up calling for Kiely to not lose his job.

An email petition, Here is the City, wrote: "Whether set up or not, Kiely was really only guilty of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. There but for the Grace of God."

It said Kiely "seems like a nice bloke, the pictures were not hardcore and that he had already suffered enough." It adds: "There's just too much political correctness in this world anyway."

A posting of the clip on YouTube had attracted more than 1.3 million hits by Thursday, along with thousands of comments, with many viewers arguing Kiely was unlucky to be caught on TV.