Radio 2GB defends Prue MacSween’s comments as ‘light-hearted’ and ‘non-literal’ after she says Abdel-Magied was right not to feel safe in Australia

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

A conservative commentator on Sydney’s 2GB radio station has joked about wanting to “run over” Yassmin Abdel-Magied, after the Sudanese-Australian engineer detailed death threats and rape threats she had received while in Australia.



Former journalist Prue MacSween made the comments on 2GB’s Chris Smith show on Wednesday, on a segment called “Smithy’s Deplorables”– a reference to the nickname adopted by supporters of Donald Trump.



Abdel-Magied left Australia for London last week, writing that she had become “Australia’s most hated Muslim” and received daily death threats and videos of beheadings and rapes after a post made on Anzac Day was seized on by conservative media.

MacSween told Smith Abdel-Magied’s fears might be well-founded.

What are they so afraid of? I’m just a young brown Muslim woman speaking my mind | Yassmin Abdel-Magied Read more

“She has fled the country and is blaming all of us,” MacSween said. “She says she’s been betrayed by Australia and didn’t feel safe in her own country. Well actually she might have been right there, because if I had seen her I would have been tempted to run her over mate.”

Smith responded by laughing heartily and agreeing that Abdel-Magied, who apologised for her Anzac Day comments, was “not really sorry”.

Responding to critics on Twitter, MacSween defended her comments as humour and free speech and attacking critics as “festering, humourless Twitter ferals”.



Prue MacSween (@macsween_prue) To all you festering, humourless Twitter ferals. Go tell someone who cares. Last time I looked this was a country of free speech. Get a life





She later told News.com.au that “it’s sad people have now lost their sense of humour, we used to celebrate larrikinism in this country, celebrate free speech and sadly that’s gone”.

But critics denounced MacSween’s comments as hypocritical and encouraging violence against Abdel-Magied.

“So what exactly is your problem with Yassmin?” asked ABC Radio National presenter Mark Bevan. “Isn’t it just her exercising free speech too?”

Rabieh Gharibeh (@RabiehGharibeh) You are a disgrace to this great nation Prue. Terrorists swerve their cars to intentionally hurt people. SHAME!!

Ketan Joshi (@KetanJ0) You expressed a wish to murder someone on the radio and nothing's going to happen. Your free speech isn't threatened.

Smith broadcast an apology on his show after listeners complained about the segment.

“I laughed over the top of it at the time so I didn’t hear exactly what she said,” he said. “Suffice to say it was meant in a light-hearted non-literal fashion and we’re hardly ever going to encourage people to run someone over … If it’s upset people we apologise. That’s not what I would intend for her [Abdel-Magied].”

In the original segment, MacSween also referred to Abdel-Magied as a “flea” who was both “irrelevant and dangerous”.

“We don’t even give this flea a second thought anymore since she slinked away from this country in disgrace … She’s quite irrelevant but she’s dangerous … we’re actually one of the most tolerant [countries], so I’m glad she hates us.”

MacSween, a former radio host and contestant on Celebrity Apprentice Australia, has been a regular guest on Smith’s “Deplorables” segment, appearing since February.

Three of Smith’s last five segments have featured the same guest: Sky News presenter Rowan Dean, who on Sunday told Race Discrimination Commissioner Tim Soutphommasane to “go back to Laos”.

On Thursday Soutphommasane said there was “no place for this toxic hate” in response to the MacSween comments.

“It’s not ‘larrikinism’ when you revel in violent fantasies or compare people to vermin,” Soutphommasane said on Twitter.

Abdel-Magied initially attracted the anger of News Corp and conservative commentators after she posted on Anzac Day: “Lest. We. Forget. (Manus, Nauru, Syria, Palestine…).”

Despite apologising, she said an estimated “90,000 twisted words” had been written about her in the three months since April.

The producer of the Chris Smith show and 2GB have been contacted for comment.

On Tuesday, a British aristocrat Rhodri Philipps was convicted in a London court after he offered money for someone to run over anti-Brexit campaigner Gina Miller.

Philipps posted on Facebook: “£5,000 for the first person to ‘accidentally’ run over this bloody troublesome first generation immigrant.”