A senior Australian official has pushed back against claims that Donald Trump Jr would not be attending a speaking engagement in the country because of visa issues linked to cancel culture – reportedly referring to him as a “big baby”.
The former president’s eldest son had been due to speak in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne beginning later this week, but event organisers Turning Point Australia announced the “landmark” tour had been delayed due to “unforeseen circumstances”.
Turning Point advised ticket holders the postponement was “nothing more than a short delay”.
“It seems America isn’t the only country that makes it difficult for the Trumps,” the group wrote on Facebook without elaborating.
But the suggestion did not go down well with Australian Home Minister Clare O’Neil, who reportedly tweeted that Mr Trump Jr was a “sore loser” who “didn’t get cancelled” – pointing to the fact that he was indeed granted a visa, Forbes reported.
The conservative group suggested in a separate post that the country’s leftwing Labour government had “slow-walked” Mr Trump Jr’s visa application and said that the visa had been granted last minute – just 24 hours before Mr Trump Jr was due to board a plane.
Ms O’Neil suggested in her tweets – which have since been deleted without explanation – that he cancelled his trip because there wouldn’t have been many people in attendance.
“He’s just a big baby, who isn’t very popular,” she wrote.
Commentators had previously called on the Australian government to ban Donald Trump’s son from entry for spreading Covid misinformation and for promoting bogus claims of election fraud after the 2020 presidential election.
An online petition calling for the political firebrand to be barred from entry gained more than 22,000 signatures.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Thursday: “Donald Trump Jr’s visa was dealt with in the normal way and, like anyone else, he was entitled to come here. The deferral of his travel is a matter for him.”
