Sky News host tears into colleague live on air over homophobic speech
A Sky News host has torn into a colleague who delivered a homophobic speech.
Ross Cameron, the conservative former Australian MP for Parramatta, is employed by Sky as a political show host.
He made the news himself this week after details of a homophobic speech he gave to the far-right Q Society in Sydney emerged.
In his speech he referred to the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper as the “Sydney Morning Homosexual”, before claiming the Liberal Party is “basically a gay club”, adding: “I don’t mind that they are gay, I just wish, like Hadrian, they would build a wall.”
At the same event a right wing cartoonist joked: “I can’t stand Muslims… [but] they are not all bad, they do chuck pillow-biters off buildings.”
Mr Cameron was called out by his colleague Sky News Australia host Janine Perrett on live TV today – as she tore into his feeble excuses for the speech.
Asked to explain his comments (clip available here), Cameron insisted: “I gave a very pro-gay speech in which I said that gays have been associated with the creative class since the beginning of history.”
Ms Perrett pushed: “But it was derogatory, wasn’t it? You weren’t giving them a good rap.”
He conceded: “I’ll accept it was a gag but I don’t regard it as anti-gay… I would say that I didn’t make a single, if you go through my remarks, I don’t see a single sentence of my remarks that is critical of gays.
“What I object to is the Sydney Morning Herald taking the view that the vast sweep of Australians are homophobic, racist, rednecks.”
When Ms Perrett asked if he would apologise, he blamed the media for taking remarks “out of context”, saying: “If the reporting of these comments has caused someone to feel a greater sense of isolation over their attraction then I very sincerely apologise”.
With a biting rebuke, his colleague hit back: “That was the worst apology I have ever heard. So if they weren’t reported then you wouldn’t apologise?”
He insisted: “I don’t accept… if you read my speech, it was in defence of dissent.”
His co-host challenged aspersions he was unaware reporters were at the event, because he acknowledged them directly.
The host pushed: “You knew this was going to come out publicly. You can’t just use the Donald Trump ‘locker room talk’ defence.”
Cameron insisted: “I regard that as one of the strengths of the argument.”
