'Juvenile and awful': ABC presenter Nate Byrne who suffered on-air panic attack reveals cruel letter from 'disappointed' viewer
Byrne, who presents the morning weather for the public broadcaster, revealed he received a letter from a fan who described his hairstyle as 'juvenile and awful'.
He sported a fresh edgy look with a fade on the sides of his head with gel through the top.
Taking to Instagram, Byrne shared a photo of a note he received on August 13 from the unnamed viewer with the subheading simply reading, 'Haircut'.
'Good morning Nate,' it began.
'Whilst I respect your right to have your hair styled as you wish, I am exercising my right to tell you it looks juvenile and awful.
'I'll return to ABC Breakfast once it grows out.
'Yours sincerely – signed - name redacted - (Disappointed viewer).'
Byrne took the criticism in good humour asking his followers if anyone has suggestions for his next haircut.
'Mail's in! Proof that the art of letter-writing isn't dead! Anyone have any suggestions for my next do?' he said.
The post attracted messages of support from fellow TV stars.
Fellow colleague, ABC Breakfast TV presenter James Glenday said: 'Never change Nate! We can have some fun with this. And anyway, it's better to be looked over than overlooked?'
MasterChef judge Poh Ling Yeow wrote, 'Can u please make it extra 'juvenile'? Nate I used to get hate mail about my 'fake' laugh. ABC viewers.'
Dancing With The Stars judge Todd McKenney added, 'This has made my day. I thought I was the only one to get this sort of feedback! You always rock your look. Don't touch one strand!'
Meanwhile, fans rallied around Byrne and defended his new hairstyle.
'Dear Disappointed Viewer, your opinion is important, just not to anyone here. Yours sincerely, 68-year-old bald guy,' commented one fan.
'Omg how ridiculous. Nate you are AMAZING, a beautiful human, who is enthusiastic, knowledgeable, clearly love your job, your passion lights up the screen. We LOVE YOU. Do not change, you are a very rare treasure. Xxxx' another said.
'I actually said to my dad the other morning I noticed you'd had a haircut. I said to him if I was a gay man you'd be my type. Nate, you're hot,' a third added.
Byrne who has been presenting ABC's morning program since 2017 previously was applauded by viewers for how he handled an on-air panic attack in August last year.
The panic attack came as he was reading Queensland's weather forecast.
'I'm actually going to need to stop for a second,' he said suddenly, before mentioning the condition which affects him.
'Some of you may know that I occasionally get affected by some panic attacks, and actually that's happening right now."
He then asked to hand the broadcast back to co-presenters Lisa Millar and Michael Rowland.
Millar agreed and took the opportunity to bring up a piece Byrne wrote in 2022 about suffering panic attacks on-air.
'Nate wrote a great piece on the ABC online website about this and I reckon we might re-up it, put it on our socials, you can have a bit of a read,' she said.
'The response when he first wrote about it and spoke about it was that everyone said, 'Oh thank god, Nate's not perfect, we thought he was perfect, but actually he's now sharing something'.'
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