The Project protest: Fred Nile collapses dramatically at Channel 10 protest over Jesus joke

Veteran religious activist Fred Nile collapsed dramatically shortly after giving a speech to Christian protesters outside the Channel 10 office in Sydney on Saturday.

The 88-year-old NSW Legislative Council member joined more than a hundred protesters protesting a controversial segment that aired on The Project last month.

He gave a short speech, praising the crowd for coming together, before his wife gave a longer speech, calling on Christians in Australia to stand up for their rights.

However, the event took a dramatic turn when the veteran activist collapsed in the sun shortly after his speech.

Protesters and police rushed to help the injured politician, placing him in a recovery position and calling an ambulance.

As protesters prayed for Rev. Nile, he was loaded into an ambulance with his wife at his side.

Christian groups lashed out at the station after comedian Reuben Kaye made an “offensive” Jesus joke.

The comedian was talking about the hate he receives from members of the public, and Christians in particular, for being gay and wearing women’s clothing when he quipped, “I love Jesus.” I love any man who can get nailed for three days straight and come back for more!

Speaking ahead of the protest, Christian Lives Matter said their ‘five goals’ for the rally include ‘cancel the Project entirely’

“We come in unity to pray for the conversion of those who mock Our Lord,” they said in a Facebook post.

They are demanding a “sincere public apology on air, on all their websites and a written signed press statement from The Project’s management” as well as no broadcast of the show during Catholic Easter and Orthodox Easter.

The group also asks for “guarantees that no faith will ever be mocked and air cut off again” and “cancel The Project entirely” if none of their demands are met.

ChristianLivesMatter group member Charlie Bakhos also demanded an apology from the network and the comedian.

“We have all had enough and this show last night crossed the line with mocking Our Lord Jesus Christ,” he wrote on Instagram.

Everyone must stick together and we must put an end to all of this. @theprojecttv and @channel10au and @reubenkayeofficial must apologize publicly.’

‘Everyone express your concerns respectfully on your pages. I will have a Zoom meeting on Thursday at 9pm to discuss how we are going to all be united in everything that is happening.

Waleed Aly and Sarah Harris apologized for the crude joke the day after it aired.

“During an interview last night, our guest told a joke that we know was deeply and unnecessarily offensive to many of you,” Aly said.

‘We want to acknowledge the particular offense it caused our Muslim viewers but especially our Christian viewers.

“Obviously I understand how deep that offense ran.”

Harris, who laughed after the joke, also joined in the humiliating apology.

“Live TV is unpredictable and when this happened in the last moments of last night’s show, it took us all by surprise, there wasn’t a lot of time to react in a considered way,” he said.

However, former panelist Em Rusciano claimed that the show’s producers “approved the script” of the prank, despite the hosts saying it was unscripted and a “live TV” mistake.

Rusciano tweeted that he finds it “hard to believe” the offensive joke was not approved by the producers given his experience on the show, which he says includes “very little” improv with its carefully written live segments.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority has received hundreds of complaints from the public after the lewd prank.

In a statement to Daily Mail Australia earlier this month, the media watchdog confirmed: “The ACMA has received 203 inquiries about an episode of The Project broadcast on Tuesday 28 February 2023 featuring comedian Reuben Kaye.”

It is not clear how many more complaints have been received since then.