Entertainment reporter Peter Ford has slammed the ABC for allowing Stan Grant on air after the Q&A host blasted his bosses for not defending him from racist trolls.
Grant is ‘walking away from the ABC’ after he was racially abused by viewers for focussing on Aboriginal dispossession during the Coronation of King Charles III.
After just 10 months in the role, Grant will present the Q&A show on Monday before taking a ‘break’ from the show.
He will become the second full-time presenter the weekly night program has lost in two years after his predecessor Hamish Macdonald stepped down.
Grant took aim at ABC bosses claiming it was an ‘institutional failure’ for not publicly defending his coverage of the once-in-a-generation event.
In a post shared to Twitter on Sunday, Ford criticised the ABC’s decision to allow Grant on air after the Q&A host publicly criticised the national broadcaster.
Controversial entertainment reporter Peter Ford (pictured) has slammed the ABC for allowing Stan Grant on air after the Q&A host publicly criticised the national broadcaster
‘Most amazing aspect of Stan Grant story is he’s being permitted to go on air tomorrow night after being publicly critical of his employer,’ Ford wrote.
‘That would never happen in the commercial world & indicative of the problem within the ABC. The people who hold power are not the management.’
It comes after Grant penned a powerful essay in which he said he was subjected to ‘relentless racial filth’ with viewers targeting him because he is Indigenous.
‘The ABC has this year lodged an official complaint with Twitter about the relentless racial filth I am subjected to,’ he said.
‘I am not beyond criticism. I occupy a privileged and prominent place in the media — I should be critiqued. And I am not thin skinned.
‘Aboriginal people learn to tough it out. That’s the price of survival.
‘For years I’ve been a media target for racism and paid a heavy price. For now, I want no part of it – I’m walking away.’
Grant continued to call out the negative attention he had received.
‘For how long? I don’t know. I don’t take time out because of racism — I won’t give racists the satisfaction,’ he said.
‘I don’t take time out because I believe the ABC was wrong to discuss the legacy of colonisation and empire on the day of the Coronation.
‘We did that, I believe, with maturity and respect.’
Grant called out the top bosses at the ABC for not publicly defending his coronation coverage claiming the national broadcaster’s silence was an ‘institutional failure’.
‘No one at the ABC — whose producers invited me on to their coronation coverage as a guest — has uttered one word of public support,’ Grant said.
‘Not one ABC executive has publicly refuted the lies written or spoken about me.
‘I don’t hold any individual responsible; this is an institutional failure.’
Ford claimed the national broadcaster’s decision to allow Grant on air was ‘indicative of the problem within the ABC (pictured)
Stan Grant (right) said he was ‘walking away from the ABC’ after he was racially abused for using live coverage of King Charles’ Coronation to focus on Aboriginal dispossession. He also criticised ABC bosses for not publicly defending his coverage
Grant said he valued the friendship of the national broadcaster’s head of news Justin Stevens.
‘He has been a support and a comfort. He is trying to change an organisation that has its own legacy of racism. But he knows I am disappointed. I am dispirited,’ he said.
The ABC told Daily Mail Australia Grant is taking a ‘break’ from hosting the program and has the broadcaster’s ‘full support’.
‘Following Monday’s program Stan Grant is taking a break from presenting Q&A. He has the full backing of the ABC,’ a spokesperson said.
‘All the panelists involved in the Coronation discussion were spoken to and supported by the ABC.
‘A public statement by Director, News Justin Stevens addressing the particular abuse directed at Stan Grant, and a personal column on the issue by Mr Grant, were published on Friday 19 May.’
Mr Stevens issued a statement on Friday in response to Grant’s claims and acknowledged the host had ‘been subject to grotesque racist abuse, including threats to his safety’ following the Coronation coverage.
‘This has become particularly virulent since he appeared as part of the ABC’s Coronation coverage,’ he said.
‘It is abhorrent and unacceptable. Stan is one of Australia’s best and most respected journalists and broadcasters.
‘The ABC stands by him and condemns the attacks directed towards him. The ABC has and will continue to refer any threats to police.’
Some of the social media abuse was been reported to police.
The ABC reportedly received more than 1,000 complaints for its allegedly ‘disrespectful’ May 6 Coronation coverage, which linked the British monarchy with the dispossession of Aboriginal people since 1788.