Top Australian TV host quits ABC show over ‘relentless racist filth’ he endured
- Stan Grant says he suffered racist abuse after raising Britain’s colonial persecution of Indigenous Australians during coverage of King Charles’s coronation
- The award-winning journalist with the Australian Broadcasting Company, says his employers did not support him or refute the lies written or spoken about him
One of Australia’s top television journalists has opened a bout of national soul-searching by quitting his show over the racist abuse he faces as an Indigenous man in the spotlight.
An award-winning journalist with the ABC, Stan Grant said he had lodged a complaint with Twitter about the “relentless racial filth” he endured.
But he added that the media itself “lie and distort my words” and had depicted him as “hate-filled” after he raised Britain’s colonial persecution of Indigenous Australians during the ABC’s coverage of King Charles III’s coronation.
“I pointed out that the crown represents the invasion and theft of our land”, Grant said in an article published on the ABC’s website. “Police wearing the seal of the crown took children from their families. Under the crown our people were massacred”.
His coronation commentary was heavily criticised as being one-sided and inappropriate by some conservative media.
Grant said he spoke out of love for Australia because he needed to tell the truth that Indigenous people still have the highest rates of imprisonment and poverty.