The good people at Melbourne Writers Festival have hit out at Mark ‘Former Labor Leaders Say The Darndest Things’ Latham after his foul-mouthed appearance yesterday, saying that it was “not the respectful conversation we value.”
Latho was making his first public appearance since resigning as a Fairfax columnist, and was speaking on the topic of whether former politicians can write objectively about politics – amazingly, it did not turn out very civilly.
When moderator Jonathan Green asked about the elephant in the room – accusations that Latham abused prominent women like Lisa Wilkinson and Mia Freedman via a ‘parody’ Twitter account – he let fly, calling Green an “ABC wanker” and demanding an apology.
Things escalated quickly from there, and after sparring with Green for a bit, he turned his attention to the audience, telling one delicate literary flower “this is how I talk, and if you don’t like it, you can fuck off.”
While most seemed to enjoy the spectacle, some did fuck off, walking out of the panel, as Latham continued to up the ante. “What’s wrong with a bit of unfiltered conversation?” he asked.
“And the words fuck and cunt, they’ve been on the front page of The Australian so they’ve been legitimised, so let’s get right to it. Fuck, cunt, poo, bum.”
The Writers Festival have since released a terse statement, saying:
“Melbourne Writers Festival was disappointed in Mark Latham’s appearance today. It was not the respectful conversation we value. Mr Latham’s session was booked four months ago. He was invited to speak on the topic of politicians as journalists.”
Latho has since declared that he is looking for “commercial opportunities” to tell his story, which is probably another not-so-subtle dig at the ABC.
via ABC News
Photo: Jonathan Wood via Getty Images
