Yesterday, news broke that Eddie McGuire‘s interview with GQ Australia had revealed some pretty interesting info about the insanely racist ‘King Kong’ comment he made about then-Sydney captain Adam Goodes back in 2013.
The Collingwood FC president says he was heavily using painkillers back in 2013, due to a knee injury:
EM: “I haven’t really said this before, but I was on massive painkillers and crutches.”GQ: “What for?”EM: “An infection in my knee – I was on heavy-duty painkillers, antibiotics and steroids and had got through but I was exhausted.”
McGuire explains that it was a mistake, and that he was disappointed that ‘people who had a 180-degree different view of the situation (i.e. racists who think it’s super fine to make ape-related jokes about the Aboriginal footballer) went in to bat for him’.
While the ‘oopsie daisie, took too many prescription painkillers’ isn’t the newest excuse in the world, he does convey that he lost a lot of sleep over the incident, and it still ‘rankles’ him to this day.
GQ questioned the current state of his friendship with Goodes, to which McGuire replied,
“I’ve seen Adam once and we shook hands and hugged, and subsequently he said he didn’t know if he could be my friend again – and that’s his prerogative. I’d like to think that we would be, one day, and that I prove worthy to him.It burns me to the core that what I said would add any level of pain to Adam or the indigenous community.”
He also goes on to explain his actions during the 2006 incident where he said he would “bone” Today host Jessica Rowe. While he denies using the term ‘bone’, he does express seemingly heartfelt regret for the trauma that the newsreader went through because of his words:
GQ: “To be clear, you didn’t say you’d ‘bone’ Jessica Rowe in relation to an alleged want for her to be removed as the then host of Today?”EM: […] “I refute that I said ‘boned’ – I may have said ‘burned’… I know Jessica’s been saying how hurt she was by it and I’ve deliberately not wanted to pick the scab on this. She was the drive-by victim in all of this – she didn’t deserve any of it, and I feel deeply about that.”
And while this all seems like a man who may have learned from his mistakes and become more progressive, McGuire then goes on to talk about some other controversies he’s been connected with – which includes pretty much everything his good friend and ‘The Footy Show’ co-host Sam Newman has ever said.
GQ: “Surely your good mate, and current co-host, Sam Newman’s had his day?”EM: “It breaks my heart sometimes that he hasn’t really been allowed to show himself on TV in a way that he can – he’s unique, highly intelligent and highly respectful. He has ?a great capacity to cut through the political correctness – sometimes he goes too far, but generally he has an opinion and it’s based on scholarship.”
While it’s reasonably frustrating hearing McGuire draw the line at his comments towards Adam Goodes but excuse his mate’s outdated misogynist/racist brand of comedy, let’s all revel at the ridiculousness of Sam Newman being referred to as ‘scholarly’.
Photo: Quinn Rooney / Getty.
We’ll be honest – we’re not sure if ^^ that ^^ is a man who hasn’t been able to express himself truly and thoroughly on national television, tbh.
To see the entire interview with Eddie McGuire, visit GQ Australia: gq.com.au/success/opinions/eddie+mcguire
Source: GQ Australia.
Photo: GQ Australia August 2016 / Benn Wood.
