Channel 9 under pressure to sack Sam Newman after comments on George Floyd
Sam Newman has been pushing the limits – and largely getting away with it – for 40 years as a radio and TV personality.
But this time, he may have taken it too far.
Anger is brewing after the 74-year-old former AFL star made a few comments about George Floyd, an American man who died while being held by police in Minnesota.
While describing Floyd’s death as “disgraceful”, Newman suggested the pedestal he was being put up on as the face of the Black Lives Matter movement was wrong because of his history.
“George Floyd … is piece of shit,” Newman said on his podcast You Cannot Be Serious. “He has been in jail five times, he held up a pregnant black woman with a knife, he’s a drug addict, he’s a crackhead and he’s a pornstar.”
“He’s dead because of the police brutality and it never should have happened. But I am telling you who George Floyd is, now they’ve made a monument about him and he’s a piece of shit”.
The comments have caused severe backlash against the host, with Channel 9 – which recently brought Newman on for a weekly segment on its Sunday Footy Show program – under pressure to sack him.
Jim Malo, a property writer with Nine-owned Domain, tweeted: “Genuinely ashamed this clown is employed by the same company as me.”
Mike Carlton added: “How much longer will Nine put up with this vulgar, ranting, knuckle-dragging f***wit?”
Rosie Thomas, the co-founder of Project Rockit, a youth-driven movement against bullying, hate and prejudice, tweeted to Channel 9 saying “it’s time to #StandDownSam hate is not commentary and it’s definitely not footy”.
She linked to an online petition calling for Newman’s long association with the broadcaster to end.
“Channel 9 has given one of Australia’s most prominent racists an unrivalled, paid platform to broadcast his hateful, racist views,” the petition read.
“In pursuit of ratings and profit during a shortened footy season, Channel 9 is banking on racism to make back their advertising bucks. And by doing so, Channel 9 has made itself complicit in fuelling hatred and violence.
“Newman’s hate speech normalises bigotry and emboldens those who seek to do harm to Black people, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, Muslim people, and others.
“We need your help to show Channel 9 this is the wrong decision. It needs to take responsibility for its role in the spread of hatred, violence, and bigotry.”
Newman infamously wore blackface on an episode of The Footy Show in 1999 and was forced to apologise to the indigenous community.