Queensland regional newspaper Murgon Moments’ editor appears to have posted and then swiftly deleted a scathing “apology” to backlash about an offensive domestic violence joke.
Murgon Moments came under fire earlier this week after it posted a misogynistic joke that trivialised violence against women. The premise of the joke was that the cure to stop a man beating his wife was for her to “keep her mouth shut”. Yeah, it’s fucked.
Unsurprisingly, the joke — published in the paper’s August edition — was called out for being misogynistic. Attorney-General and Women Minister Shannon Fentiman confirmed the newspaper was reported to the Australian Press Council.
It appears the editor Leo Garghty has since published an apology (and I use that loosely) to the backlash — which was briefly on this page of the newspaper’s website but now appears as a 404 error.
Luckily, it was captured by a reader and has since been shared to social media.
“To our valued readers, I am sorry you found [the joke] offensive,” the note begins.
“Perhaps it might be better to remove all snippers that used to be classed as jokes from the Murgon Moments which I have voluntary (sic) done for the last 190 issues, that is nearly 16 years, perhaps you may be able to supply me with some that I may not have used.”
No, the weirdly long sentences do not stop there.
“I am a member of the Men’s Shed and many other voluntary organisations and was in Lions for 30 years,” the “apology” continued.
“I would welcome anyone to apply their time as I do, to volunteering in our community. I have continually printed stories re mental illness and domestic violence and do share the pain of losing my son through suicide and seeing his children grow up without a father.
“Perhaps doing the copy for print at 1 o’clock in the morning I should have been more careful to what I was including instead of including jokes from the 2007 edition, which in those times must have been acceptable.
“Once again, I am sorry that I offended you or others and hope you continue to read the free of charge Murgon Moments.”
Sorry, but that joke actually wasn’t okay in 2007 — we just didn’t have the social media access we do know for it to be as widely seen and reported on.
This apology is already kinda messed up because it uses past trauma around suicide (??) to justify making abusive jokes but unfortunately, it gets worse.
“Please see attached: this is just a small part of what we print re domestic violence, surprisingly I never get thanked for these,” Garghty continued.
He then referenced other coverage from Murgon Moments about issues such as domestic violence and mental illness. It’s giving “I’m sorry you feel that way but I did nothing wrong”.
Unsurprisingly, the apology has been dragged online.
“’I volunteer and have experienced personal tragedy in my life and have done some other good things also! Therefore I don’t need to take accountability over harmful things I do’,” one user said mockingly.
“It’s not an apology if it blames the person offended for being offended,” said another.
Murgon Moments is yet to issue a new apology. PEDESTRIAN.TV has reached out to the publication for comment.
Help is available.
If you require immediate assistance, please call 000.
If you’d like to speak to someone about domestic violence, please call the 1800 Respect hotline on 1800 737 732 or chat online.
Under 25? You can reach Kids Helpline at 1800 55 1800 or chat online.
