The ABC has alerted the police over an abusive email sent to News Breakfast sports presenter Tony Armstong that was littered with racial slurs.
Per The Guardian, the national broadcaster referred the hate mail that landed in Armstrong’s work inbox to the police after he called it out publicly.
Tony Armstrong took to Twitter on Tuesday to call out the email — a lot of which was scrubbed out — and said that no amount of abuse is going to stop Indigenous Australians from “speaking up or stepping up”.
This shit has gotta stop. One thing is for certain though, this isn’t guna stop us speaking up or stepping up. Sent to my work email, no less. pic.twitter.com/WAm7sVrn4F
— Tony Armstrong (@Tonaaayy_) November 1, 2022
It’s believed Tony Armstrong was sent the racist email in response to his recent appearance on The Project which turned to Netball Australia’s loss of Hancock Prospecting as a major sponsor. He criticised the mining company’s owner and Australia’s wealthiest person, Gina Reinhart, for not renouncing horrific comments her father — Lang Hancock — made about Aboriginal people in the ’80s.
There’s been a significant pile-on on the Australian Diamonds after Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting pulled out of a $15 million sponsorship deal. But as Tony Armstrong explains, there’s also a conversation about the mining billionaire we need to have.#TheProjectTV pic.twitter.com/GuS3spRcXG
— The Project (@theprojecttv) October 27, 2022
The email was also sent to Alan Jones, Andrew Bolt, Pauline Hanson, Sky News host Peter Gleeson and the admin account of the United Australia Party.
ABC News Director Justin Stevens condemned the abusive email in a statement and said the ABC is working on a bigger project about the harassment of its employees.
“This racist harassment is sickening,” he said.
“The ABC is taking a range of actions to support Tony Armstrong, including referring the matter to police.
“We are currently conducting a bigger project on the abuse and harassment of ABC employees, including on social media, and examining all the options open to us to ensure the wellbeing of our people.
“Our journalists should not be attacked or subjected to abuse for doing their jobs.”
Journalists, actors and other notable Aussies like Zan Rowe, Michael Rowland, Neroli Meadows, Eric Bana and Magda Szubanski threw their support behind Armstrong and also called out the abhorrent behaviour he and other Indigenous Australians are constantly subjected to.
