Victorian Liberal MP and Shadow Assistant Minister for Autism Bernie Finn has been slammed after sharing an offensive and ableist meme about Victorian Premier Dan Andrews on Facebook.
The meme was deleted on Friday morning, but not before it was screenshotted and shared all over the internet, with countless people calling for him to “resign or be sacked.” One petition calling for Finn’s resignation has already received over 300 signatures.
Finn shared a meme of Dan Andrews, asserting that it is what 2020 would look like as a person, prompting social media users to call him out on the ableism of the post.
“No argument here!” He captioned the meme.
Not only is Finn a Victorian Liberal MP, who shouldn’t be posting content that could be considered ableist and/or offensive, but his actual role within the government is to stand up for Australians with autism, which makes it all the more concerning that he’s sharing this content.
However, a quick scroll through his official Facebook page shows that, like fellow Liberal MP Tim Smith, Finn appears to focus more on trashing Dan Andrews than he does, well, doing anything actually productive.
Just imagine how much more productive the Liberal Party could be if they weren’t so preoccupied with trying to dunk on Dan Andrews like a bunch of high school bullies.
After (understandably) facing backlash from the community on Facebook, Finn appeared to defend his actions, doubling down on the ableist sentiment and seemingly excusing his offensive behaviour because he likes to have a “laugh.”
In response to another comment, Finn clarified that he doesn’t find disabilities funny, which seemingly contradicts his earlier remarks.
“No, I don’t,” he simply replied when asked if he thought disabilities were a joke.
Following the post, countless Twitter users have publicly called for the Liberal MP to be sacked.
https://twitter.com/MagazineAmplify/status/1329517155809824768
Can we sack Bernie Finn yet?
Shadow Minister for Autism posting memes like this on Facebook.#LNPProtectionRacket @PRGuy17 pic.twitter.com/gzigwi0za5
— Petty Betty (@PpetttyPpattty) November 19, 2020
Bernie Finn is a disgrace and not fit to serve the people of Victoria. He’s commenting to people responding to this disgraceful meme that they need to learn to laugh. He seems like the kind of pe r son who uses disability parking without a permit. https://t.co/1d384uFWQc pic.twitter.com/XTy7czsvB4
— Elisha Friday Matthews (@MsFridayology) November 19, 2020
Interestingly, the meme came as Victoria marked its 20th “double donut” day, with no new cases being recorded in nearly three weeks.
The post was removed from Facebook on Friday morning, but Finn is yet to comment on the situation. PEDESTRIAN.TV has reached out to Finn’s team for comment.
