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Leaving aside if this is the most effective way to resume a career as a serious journalist (Thorburn was an ABC journalist prior to her marriage and motherhood), Thorburn was on the show to talk about her new TV outing; and when prompted by Mooney to bitch about her ex for allegedly having hair plugs, she refused.

Mooney had the weekend to think about his response, given it was a Friday pre-record, so there can be nothing random about how the comedian chose to present his interview when it was played yesterday.

In a live preview piece, in what sounded like a desperate attempt to inject a bit of his own salaciousness around Thorburn, Mooney demeaned her as a woman and humiliated her as a wife.

"I wanted her to unload on Karl [about having allegedly had hair plugs] ... I asked her, she wouldn't touch that," Mooney told his audience. This can not have been a surprise, as Thorburn's publicist, who was with her, would most definitely have outlined a list of approved topics – they always do.

"But I gotta say Cass, we’re going to watch you (on DWTS) because you were Mrs Stefanovic and you’re a woman scorned. And she was all about, ‘No, I’m a woman in my own right, and I was a journalist’, but it’s like, no one gives two hoots.”

Asked by a fellow jokester if he was still on "Team Cass" (whatever that is) Mooney continued: “I am back into Karl Stefanovic, I’ve swung right back. You know what, Cass? I can see why he walked. You are a nightmare."

There is no male equivalent for 'woman scorned', an archaic put-down exhumed by Lawrence Mooney.

It is difficult to know where to start when unpacking the cruelty, arrogance and misogyny of these comments, they are so loaded with strategic sexism.

There is no male equivalent for "woman scorned", an archaic put-down exhumed by Mooney to justify his own treatment of Thorburn. (Everyone thinks you are this – because I say so – why didn't you be this for me?)

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You would not expect any contemporary on-air personality to stoop so low, or go so far into the historical handbook of gender-specific insults.

Thorburn was not there to defend herself when Mooney unleashed on her, so add cowardice to the mix.

No woman has to say or do something simply because a man demands to her to, and then be punished for failing to cede to his will. This is a feature of abusive relationships, not something you expect to hear a broadcaster carry out live to air.

The idea that a woman's only relevance is tied to her marital status is something you would have hoped died out decades ago; thankfully, it is certainly not something you'd expect to hear from any person under 50 (and most over it).

The delayed, public revenge taken on a woman whose only crime was to disappoint a man's expectation that she would give him something useful was breathtaking, and revealing.

These few pronouncements by Mooney could provide grist for whole PhDs on enduring stereotypes of women promoted by some (although thankfully a diminishing number of) men clinging to old ideas of entitlement.

Shame on you, Lawrence Mooney. Please apologise, to all of us.