The host of Q+A Stan Grant is standing down from the show after receiving “grotesque racist abuse” which escalated after he spoke on the ABC about the impact of colonialism ahead of the King’s coronation.
Grant said in a column published on the ABC website that after Monday’s episode he was “walking away”.
“Since the King’s coronation, I have seen people in the media lie and distort my words,” he said. “They have tried to depict me as hate filled. They have accused me of maligning Australia.
“Nothing could be further from the truth. My ancestors would not allow me to be filled with hate.”
The director of ABC News, Justin Stevens, took aim at the “usual sections of the media” for stirring up the hate by distorting Grant’s contribution to the debate.
But Grant took a swipe at ABC management too, saying no one at the ABC had supported him publicly since he appeared on the panel to discuss the impact of colonialism on Indigenous Australians.
“I am writing this because no one at the ABC – whose producers invited me onto their coronation coverage as a guest – has uttered one word of public support,” he said.
“Not one ABC executive has publicly refuted the lies written or spoken about me. I don’t hold any individual responsible; this is an institutional failure.
“I value the friendship of ABC Director of News, Justin Stevens. He has been a support and a comfort. He is trying to change an organisation that has its own legacy of racism. But he knows I am disappointed. I am dispirited.
“I was not the producer nor presenter of the coronation broadcast yet every newspaper article accusing the ABC of bias has carried my image. I am writing this because I will not have people depict me as a person of hate.”
In a separate statement Stevens said Grant had been subjected to “grotesque racist abuse, including threats to his safety” which have been reported to police.
“This has become particularly virulent since he appeared as part of the ABC’s Coronation coverage,” Stevens said.
“It is abhorrent and unacceptable.
“Stan is one of Australia’s best and most respected journalists and broadcasters. The ABC stands by him and condemns the attacks directed towards him.”
The New South Wales police have been contacted for comment.
Stevens said Grant was one of the panellists on the coronation coverage and was asked to participate as a Wiradjuri man to discuss his own family’s experience and the role of the monarchy in Australia in the context of Indigenous history.
But Grant took the brunt of the “tirade of criticism, particularly in the usual sections of the media that target the ABC” that followed the broadcast.
“Reporting on his contribution to the panel discussion has been unfair, inaccurate and irresponsible,” he said. “It has contributed to fuelling horrendous personal and racial abuse.”
The Australian and radio broadcasters Neil Mitchell and Ray Hadley denounced the broadcaster for hosting a panel discussion about the impact of colonialism on Indigenous Australians and the relevance of the monarchy in 2023.
Despite the coronation coverage being labelled “despicable” by monarchists, viewers loved it and gave the national broadcaster an easy ratings win over the commercial networks.
Mitchell said the ABC had “totally misread the mood” and focused on “bagging the living daylights out of the monarchy”.
Headlines in the Australian included “ABC’s royal rants fail to lure viewers” and “ABC’s coronation coverage labelled ‘bile’”.
Joining Grant on the ABC panel for the coronation, hosted by Jeremy Fernandez and Julia Baird, was lawyer and Indigenous writer Teela Reid, Liberal backbencher and monarchist Julian Leeser and co-chair of the Australian Republic Movement Craig Foster. The panel discussion lasted 45 minutes in the lead-up to the coronation and was over hours before the event itself.
For his part Grant pointed out that the crown represents the invasion and theft of Aboriginal land. “In the name of the crown my people were segregated on missions and reserves,” he explained on Friday. “Police wearing the seal of the crown took children from their families. Under the crown our people were massacred.”
The ABC has lodged an official complaint with Twitter about the “relentless racial filth” Grant is subjected to after every episode of Q+A. Twitter has been contacted for comment but has no real Australian presence since Elon Musk took ownership of the company.
“I am not beyond criticism,” the triple Walkley-award winner said. “I occupy a privileged and prominent place in the media – I should be critiqued. And I am not thin skinned. Aboriginal people learn to tough it out. That’s the price of survival.”
The ABC permanently appointed Grant, 59, as the full-time host of the weekly flagship discussion program in August 2022, a year after Hamish Macdonald quit and was replaced by rotating hosts.
