Sydney radio host Ray Hadley has hit out at suggestions that comments he made during his interview with Prime Minister Scott Morrison were homophobic.
Hadley’s question to the PM about recent controversies was labeled a “word salad” by fellow journalists, and more than a few picked up on his statement, saying in part; “The story…was not about women, it was about blokes in Parliament having homosexual sex and getting rent boys in. That’s what it was about. It wasn’t about women it was about blokes having consensual sex with other blokes, and that’s disgusting.”
Following the interview people on social media, and some news outlets, highlighted Hadley’s “It was about blokes having consensual sex with other blokes, and that’s disgusting.” comment, but the shock-jock says he is being taken out of context.
On Thursday morning Hadley denied his phrasing of the question was homophobic and called those who criticised him, “lowlife grubs”.
The Prime Minister appeared on Hadley’s 2GB program on Wednesday morning. His appearance followed revelations on Channel Ten earlier in the week that exposed Liberal staffers in Parliament House were part of a social media group who shared images showing them taking part in sexual acts, including one video of staffer masturbating over a female MP’s desk.
The latest controversy added to the Prime Minister’s woes which include dealing with Minister and staffers actions relating to the Brittany Higgins’ rape accusation, separate historical rape accusations that have been strongly demined by Attorney General Christian Porter, and ongoing criticism that the Morrison is out of touch with women.
The Prime Minister’s attempts to reset the conversation the previous day at a press conference went awry when he got into a confrontation with Sky News reporter Andrew Clennell.
Morrison suggested that the journalist should not be too critical of how his government responded to sexual assault accusation, saying there was also a similar complaint at Clennell’s workplace. The journalist hit back saying he had no knowledge of any complaint, and within hours News Corp had pout out a statement refuting the PM’s suggestion.
Voters were left wondering how the Prime Minister seemed to know about what was happening at News Corp than his own workplace, and also questioned why he’d been willing to jeopardise the confidentiality of a process. On Tuesday night the PM put out a sheepish apology.
When joined Hadley on air on Wednesday morning the radio host reassured the PM that he wasn’t going to face any tough questions.
“Now, if anyone’s listening this morning and expects me to carve you up, they’re going to be sadly disappointed … I think the electorate needs to be a bit forgiving.” Hadley reassured the PM.
The full question that sparked off the suggestions of homophobia saw Hadley asking the PM;
“I guess what you’d like to do is rewind what happened yesterday and deal with it differently when you clashed with Andrew, Andrew is by the way been with Ben [Fordham] this morning, accepted your apology because he knows it is a sincere apology. But I wonder a couple of things. There’s a couple of things that go over in my mind. The story on Four Corners was not about women, it was about blokes in Parliament having homosexual sex and getting rent boys in. That’s what it was about. It wasn’t about women it was about blokes having consensual sex with other blokes and that’s disgusting. And what happened in the Minister’s office is equally disgusting. And blokes performing sexual acts on either women or men consensually or, is disgusting when it happens in the workplace. But I thought the narrative was lost yesterday, that it became again about, you know, alleged attacks on women. And the other thing, there’s a young woman, a Senator from the Greens, who’s described, you know some bludger in the Senate, groping at her or asking her for a date and monstering her. I mean, shouldn’t we identify these sort of people? I mean whether they’re working in this building or your building, don’t we?”
On Thursday morning Hadley said the person who highlighted his comment and suggested part of it was homophobic was a “twit”, and deliberately overlooked what he said in the following sentence.
“For those people that posted things on social media relying on my first comment but not my second, third or fourth comments, and then calling me homophobic, well you’re lowlife grubs,” Hadley said. “And those in the left-wing media who seized upon it, you’re lowlife grubs as well.”
Hadley said he often defended the gay community, and had also advocated for parents to be positive if their children came out. The radio host said the criticism of his comments were not justified.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s answer to the elongated multi-pronged query was succinct. He said “Sure.”
OIP Staff
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