Kerri-Anne Kennerley has spoken in support of the Extinction Rebellion protestors who’ve taken to Australian streets this week, saying she believes people should feel safe expressing their opinions – no matter how inconvenient they may be.
“I think it’s appalling – with freedom of speech – where people have an opinion and everybody else finds the need to slam someone,” Kennerley said on Studio 10 this morning.
“We are living in a democratic country. We do need people to have varying opinions and it should be treated with respect so therefore everybody should have their freedom of expression.”
Actually… ah fuck, sorry. There’s been a mix up. That’s what Kennerley said in 2016, when she defended fellow TV person Sonia Kruger for backing a proposed ban on Muslim migrants settling in Australia.
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Here’s what Kennerley actually said about the climate activists today, as pointed out by Junkee:
Personally, I would leave them all super glued to wherever they do it, the guy hanging from the Story Bridge. Why send emergency services? Leave him there until he gets himself out… no emergency services should help them, nobody should do anything, and you just put little witches hats around them, or use them as a speedbump.
Yes, Kennerley’s response to the concept of protesters disrupting peak hour traffic is to mow them down. Her response to an Extinction Rebellion protester suspending himself some ten metres below Brisbane’s Story Bridge is to simply leave him dangling.
While Kennerley appeared to back off from that run-them-over-lmao statement a moment later, she continued with her diatribe, suggesting authorities should “put them in jail, forget to feed them.”
Considering Queensland Premier Annastacia Palazsczuk appears to be juicing laws which could see protesters hurled into jail, Kennerley’s wishes might not be too far away.
In a statement obtained by Yahoo Lifestyle, Channel 10 said her comments “were said in jest.
“Before the show concluded, Sarah Harris reiterated the tone of her remarks, affirming that Kerri-Anne wasn’t inciting violence. Kerri-Anne confirmed that she was indeed speaking in hyperbole and her words were clearly a joke.
“There was no intent to cause offence.”
The network reiterated that Studio 10 had fielded a range of perspectives on the issue before Kennerley joked about killing protesters.
Things got worse later in the broadcast, when the panel discussed recent criticism of Ellen DeGeneres, who was photographed palling it up with former US President and Iraq War instigator George W. Bush.
Angela Bishop, daughter of former Howard Government minister Bronwyn Bishop, said “if someone dares to air an opinion which is unlike yours on social media, you do not deserve to be heard, according to them.
“What has happened… but now if someone dares to disagree with you, they are to be silenced.”
The message here, of course, is that free speech privileges are to be extended to media mainstays and political heavyweights, to the exclusion of folks drawing attention to the fact the humanity is cooked unless we drastically wind back carbon emissions.
Ellen DeGeneres has addressed the criticism about her friendship with George W. Bush after they were spotted together at a football game. @AngelaBishop: “If someone dares to air an opinion which is unlike yours… you do not deserve to be heard, according to them.” #Studio10 pic.twitter.com/ftalmNtJXl
— Studio 10 (@Studio10au) October 9, 2019
Very cool and normal all around.
