Gay comedian Rhys Nicholson: Men on train called me a ‘faggot’ and threatened to ‘bash me to death’
Gay Aussie comic Rhys Nicholson has spoken out about a shocking homophobic incident on a train.
Nicholson, a regular TV comic, spoke out about the incident that happened in Melbourne on Friday.
He said: “I was sitting on a train into a gig with my headphones on when four people (three twenty somethings and an older guy) got on. They were regular looking well dressed people except one of the young guys had a neck tattoo of a rose. Let a thousand blossoms bloom I guess.
“When ol’ rose neck saw me he loudly said ‘you can always spot a faggot on Melbourne hey’. I looked up and rolled my eyes. He continued ‘it’s looking at me. If it keeps looking at me, something’s going to happen to it’.
“I looked down. He seemed a little more serious than they usually are. He paced up and down the carriage for a few minutes and said directly at me ‘if there was no one here I’d bash you. Bash you to death’.
“This type of fun went on for about 10 minutes. As they got off the older guy announced that ‘the yes vote [to equal marriage] was allowing schools to teach young boys how to have sex with men’.
He added: “I’m fine. That’s the problem. This s**t is still so common that it barely phased me. It should phase me.”
The comedian went on to criticise the country’s right-wing Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull for forcing a public vote on same-sex marriage last year, which provided a massive boost to the anti-LGBT movement and led to a surge in homophobic incident.
He added; “I don’t blame Malcolm Turnbull for these people existing. I blame he and his government for giving them a voice. Thank you Malcolm for leading these horses to water.”
Nicholson previously threw shade at Turnbull during a live TV appearance during the period in which Turnbull’s party was blocking equal marriage.
The pair had both been appearing on The Project, and when Turnbull made note of the comedian’s ginger hair, he couldn’t resist a dig.
Still apparently talking about ginger hair, he said: “I think it’s all about ownership, those are our words and we can take them back. The main thing is you don’t want anyone to be treated differently for something they can’t change, like, for example… marriage rights, or something. I don’t know what I could possibly mean by that.”
