Toorak Eddie or the Broady boy
Eddie McGuire really has been a leader in the public debate against racial intolerance. For decades, he has been a respected businessman and media personality. Yet, he is still the boy made good from the rough streets of Broadmeadows to the rarefied air of Toorak.
 |
| Eddie McGuire - the statesman |
Playing to his audience, the lowest common denominator
Here is where the Eddie McGuire story gets murky. He is a positive role model in so many ways, but he also understands his audience because that is where he has come from. He was the successful host on the lowbrow "The Footy Show", playing the straight man to the highly politically incorrect Sam Newman.
On Triple M, he knows he is talking to largely the same audience as the Footy Show, and his role is to pepper the show with humour, even lowbrow humour. This is the unfortunate background to his comments yesterday - the environment in which he operates is one in which an off-the-cuff racial comment is commonplace.
 |
| Eddie on The Footy Show with Sam Newman and Trevor Marmalade |
Eddie's slip of the tongue is clearly racist and his audience are too
Eddie understands the depth of his error. Unfortunately many of his listeners do not.
Reading the comments to his official statement posted on Facebook is simply depressing, and reflects the ingrained racism and lack of understanding of these people...
Liz Gazeas I didn't think the comment was racist at all. Not Eddie's comment nor the young girls'. If the comment was racist to me I believe that would mean I think ALL indigenous people look like apes. I don't think that so to me the comment was not about race.
Sandi Pike This whole Adam Goodes issue...is a joke...freedom of speech...have a shave Soft cock Goodes because you look like an APE...
Zac Godfrey Eddie
wasn't being racist. He was making a tongue-in-cheek reference that has
been received badly. What if an indigenous 13 year old girl had called
Goodes an ape? Are people from different races allowed to say different
things? That doesn't seem right to me. I lovingly call my nieces little monkeys all the time...
...and on and on they go, demonstrating the incisive truth of what Collingwood player, Harry O'Brien said yesterday that casual racism is ingrained in parts of our society, who simply do not acknowledge their racist content.
Eddie, you are not a racist, but what you said was racist
You have been a great role model, but what you said was unacceptable by your own standards and you must set an example by standing down. You need to reach out to those commenting on your club's own page to make it clear that they are missing the point.
Australia is developing an unfortunate reputation as a racist country, and you can continue your good work by reaching deeper into your own audience.
Let me know what you think
Mark S
