Airline incident In May 2004, Hunt made a curious attempt to make a statement about airline security, which has been markedly increased in Australia after terrorist threats. Hunt was agitated at having to remove his pants and footwear after setting off a metal detector. He then took ten metal forks from the
Qantas Club and took them on board a Qantas flight from
Adelaide headed for
Melbourne in an attempt to prove that airport security was totally flawed. A concerned passenger who did not recognise Hunt alerted the flight crew and he was detained on arrival in Melbourne, where he was questioned for approximately 30 minutes and let go without any charges filed against him.
Leon Davis controversy Hunt was involved in a controversial incident involving a racial slur in 2005, when he called Collingwood's
Leon Davis, who is of Aboriginal descent, 'as black as a dog' during the call against
Essendon mid-way through the season. Hunt made the comment when he trailed off while saying "Neon Leon hasn't lit up tonight; he's as black as a dog's guts in the night", claiming it was to describe Davis's poor form in that match in terms of a
neon lights metaphor; other members of the commentary team had been using different neon lights metaphors in the same context. Hunt's apology to Davis was initially rejected, and only accepted later in the week after a face-to-face meeting.
Byron Bay fight In 2005, Hunt and his son were involved in an incident in Byron Bay where he claimed to have been attacked by local teenagers. The teenagers involved, however, claim Hunt was extremely intoxicated at the time and that his son had thrown the first punch.
Infidelity On 17 May 2006,
News Ltd exposed Hunt's 15 years of secret sexual liaisons. When confronted, Hunt confessed he had paid three women in succession for ongoing sexual relationships over a period of more than 15 years. The final relationship, with a beautician in her 30s, began in 1997 and cost Hunt $1000 a week. Hunt acknowledged he is a hypocrite given his repeated attacks on other media personalities for sexual infidelity. Hunt followed this by an interview with radio broadcaster
Neil Mitchell on Melbourne radio 3AW. A quote from Rex Hunt's radio comments, ''That's what a fool does. I'm invincible, I'm paying money... uh... The girl's happy, she's got no money, I got my rocks off. How good is this?
has gained its own notoriety by being featured repeatedly on national Triple M radio program Get This hosted by Tony Martin, Ed Kavalee and Richard Marsland. Robyn Hood, 40 at the time, one of the three women involved, subsequently sold her story to New Idea magazine. Robyn was quoted as saying: Rex was never unfaithful to Lynne. "We never had sex... he was affectionate, very touchy-feely... then he'd either, in the car or out of it, depending on how cold it was, fling off all his clothes. The more public, the greater the danger and the more exciting Rex apparently found it''. Rex Hunt's wife of thirty four years, Lynne, said she would stand by Hunt and also revealed she has
bipolar disorder, which had placed pressure on the couple's relationship.
Thief encounter In December 2021, it was reported that Hunt confronted and thwarted a would-be thief when a reporter’s laptop bag was snatched during an exhibition boxing match in Melbourne.
Facebook rant about Daisy Pearce He became embroiled in a high-profile hostile war of words after making a Facebook rant calling for controversial
AFL Hall of Famer Wayne Carey to replace AFLW champion
Daisy Pearce on Channel 7’s live football coverage.
Health scare In January 2023, at 2:15 am, Hunt called police after pulling over his car to the side of the road in a health emergency, where he was subsequently taken to hospital. Before and since, Hunt has opened up about his mental health struggles that have dogged him since his retirement from playing football:I was gone ... despite the clown of the circus having a rubber nose, behind the makeup and rubber nose may well be the loneliest person in the world. ==Personal life==