Mark Latham’s tweet shocked the political world. But it wasn’t the first time the controversial political leader has sparked controversy over his “gay” comment.
- Latham was fired from Sky in 2017 over ‘gay’ remarks
- He said he believed a high school student was gay in the video
- Now, he’s facing backlash over the ‘homophobic’ comments
Mark Latham was sacked as Sky News commentator in 2017 after he made comments about a teenager’s sexuality on air.
The NSW One Nation leader is again facing calls to lose his job after a blunt remark he made towards Independent MP Alex Greenwich on Twitter on Thursday.
He was quick to remove the homophobic slurs but not before it was re-shared by critics demanding an apology.
As he faces criticism – including from One Nation national leader Pauline Hanson – attention has turned back to the incident from six years ago.
The remarks he made on that occasion were directed at a student from Sydney Boys’ High School who appeared in a video celebrating feminism.
Latham referred to the teens in the video as “d*** heads” during an appearance on Outsiders in March of that year, adding, “I thought the first guy was gay.”
Mark Latham was sacked as Sky News commentator in 2017 after he made comments about a teenager’s sexuality on air.
The backlash to his comments was swift and within two weeks it was confirmed by Sky News chief executive Angelos Frangopoulos that he had been sacked as commentator on the channel.
Announcing the decision, he said, “While we support strong opinions and strong arguments, we pride ourselves on doing so in a civil and respectful manner.”
Politicians from all sides of politics criticized Latham on that occasion. Longtime Latham party leader Bill Shorten called the comments “sad, attention-seeking behaviour” and said he was acting “like a bully”.
Then-Federal Education Minister Simon Birmingham asked Latham to “pick someone of his own size”.
Latham took to Twitter to defend his comments on that occasion, telling his followers: “Why does the bigoted left automatically assume the word ‘gay’ is used negatively?”
I love gays. Far from the toxic politics of the left, they are great people.
The NSW One Nation leader is again facing calls to lose his job after a blunt remark he made towards Independent MP Alex Greenwich on Twitter on Thursday
Latham took to Twitter to defend his comments on that occasion, telling his followers: “Why does the bigoted left automatically assume the word ‘gay’ is used negatively?” I love gays. Far from the toxic politics of the left, they are great people’
There are now growing calls for Latham to step down as a member of the New South Wales state legislature.
He was only re-elected to a new eight-year term last weekend, as leader of the One Nation Party in New South Wales.
But Pauline Hanson has joined in publicly condemning Latham’s comments towards Latham, revealing that she tried to contact him to ask him to issue a public apology but he didn’t respond.
I’ve already tried contacting Mark several times, to no avail. And obviously I sent him a text telling him my views.
As he rambled around trying to avoid widespread criticism – including from One Nation national leader Pauline Hanson – attention turned again to the incident from 2017.
There are now growing calls for Latham to step down as a member of the New South Wales state legislature. He was only re-elected to a new eight-year term last weekend, as leader of the One Nation Party in New South Wales.
I asked him to give people an apology. I’ll leave it at this. It is now up to Mark to respond to the people.
Latham quickly deleted his post attacking independent state MP Alex Greenwich on Thursday, but in what appeared to be a challenge, he liked several comments supporting his position.
He appears to have gone into hiding and has not taken calls as of Friday morning after he objected to Greenwich calling him “disgusting” after giving a speech in front of a church while Christian protesters clashed with LGBTQ protesters.
Latham responded by tweeting: “Disgusting?” How does it compare to sticking a d*** up a bloke’s a*** and covering it up with an s***? ‘
New South Wales Premier Chris Minns said the comments were “despicable”.
“I think these are vile and disgraceful comments and I think he revealed himself as a bigot,” he said.
“One of the things that can’t be forgotten is that comments like this, although in and of themselves, are outrageous, they unleash ghouls on people.”
