One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has launched a furious attack on Channel Nine, accusing the broadcaster of attempting to associate her party with the Ku Klux Klan after airing an interview in which a senior KKK figure praised her political rise.
The controversy erupted following Nine’s documentary Trump’s America: The Divided States, which featured an interview with Thomas Robb, a longtime leader of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in the United States.
During the interview, Nine reporter Reid Butler asked Robb whether it was “heartening” to see an anti-immigration politician such as Hanson performing strongly in Australia.
“Yeah, yeah, it’s encouraging, absolutely,” Robb replied.
Robb went on to claim Hanson was being “demonised by the same element of people that wants to demonise us”, while discussing her positions on immigration.
Hanson has responded forcefully, rejecting any suggestion of an ideological connection between One Nation and the white supremacist organisation.
“This is disgusting and a new low for the Australian media,” Hanson said. “The Ku Klux Klan is a white supremacist organisation with a long history of racial hatred, terror and violence.”
Hanson said any suggestion that One Nation, its members or supporters endorsed the KKK was “absurd and offensive”, and questioned Nine’s decision to send a reporter to the United States to seek the views of one of the organisation’s leaders.
“There is something seriously wrong with a media organisation that believes Australians need to hear what the Ku Klux Klan thinks about Australian politics and chooses to promote those views,” she said.
“Channel Nine should be ashamed of itself.”
Hanson also took aim at Nine over the public money received by the company, pointing to more than $16 million in federal government funding and questioning the broadcaster’s decision to devote resources to interviewing a KKK leader.
The interview itself establishes that Robb expressed approval of Hanson and aspects of her immigration stance. It does not establish that Hanson or One Nation endorses the KKK, and Hanson has explicitly rejected any such association.
The dispute comes during another turbulent period for the Queensland senator. Last week she faced criticism from politicians across the political spectrum after comments from a 2025 podcast resurfaced in which she described Indigenous Australians as “the most primitive race on Earth”. Hanson subsequently said she regretted using the term and apologised if she had offended people, while maintaining that she would continue raising issues concerning Indigenous policy.
The latest row, however, has shifted the focus onto Nine and its editorial decision to include the KKK leader’s comments in its examination of political division and populist movements.
For Hanson, there was no ambiguity about where she stood on the comparison.
“The KKK’s ideology has nothing to do with One Nation,” she said, describing the attempt to associate the two as offensive.
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