See excerpt from the article by abc.net.au of the headline:
Logies: Bert Newton criticised for gay slur as Grant Denyer wins Gold Logie
Newton's comments could be the end of his career, some social media users said.
AAP: Dan Peled
Australian television icon Bert Newton is facing a social media backlash over comments he made when presenting the Graham Kennedy Award for most popular new talent at the 60th annual Logie Awards.
His comments came on the night Grant Denyer was awarded the Gold Logie for most popular personality on Australian television, and Hugo Weaving (Seven Types Of Ambiguity) and Pamela Rabe (Wentworth) won most outstanding actor and actress respectively. Weaving and Rabe were not at the ceremony to accept the awards.
Having referred to himself using a gay slur, Newton joked that his former co-star Kennedy enjoyed "mentoring" young talent behind closed doors.
"Speaking of young talent, Graham Kennedy was always the sort of man who nurtured young talent," Newton said.
"He enjoyed giving young people a chance on television, he was a great mentor, he mentored a lot of young people.
"You knew if you went to his dressing room and it was locked, he would be inside doing some mentoring."Film critic and entertainment journalist Giles Hardie said Newton's comments "didn't resonate well" in the era of the #MeToo movement against sexual abuse.
"Ultimately, this is an 80-year-old variety performer who got up and gave exactly the sort of routine he does," Hardie said.
"You've got to look at … the producers where [the Logies] is a show that doesn't have a Welcome to Country.
"This is a show that only dealt with #MeToo in a musical number.
"I think they brought it on themselves saying, here's Bert and here's what he does."Newton's comments also drew criticism from many social media users, with Australian TV and film critic Andrew Mercado saying someone should tell Newton about #MeToo.
"I suspect that is going to be Bert's last ever appearance at the Logies," Mercado wrote on Twitter.
"He will always be a legend, but that was just sad tonight."
Twitter user Paul Nicholson also suggested it could be the end of Newton's career.
"Unacceptable in politically correct Australia in 2018. Time for Bert Newton to retire?" he wrote.
Newton was presenting the award to CRAM! and Utopia star Dilruk Jayasinha when he made the comments.
Denyer wins Gold Logie despite show's cancellation
Photo Family Feud host Grant Denyer triumphantly holds up his gold and silver Logies.
AAP: Dan Peled
Read more at:
http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2018-07-01/logies-winners-bert-newton-criticised-for-comments/9929268?pfmredir=sm
I am absolutely sick of politically correct !! Get over it, life happens. Our great country is going down the drain due to political correctness. Things that happened MANY years ago in a DIFFERENT type of society are NOT todays news. Metoo is new. Paedophilia was dealt with VERY harshly in "the old days" If you went to prison, you had numbered days, just like the wife bashers, inmates had VERY severe views on these two crimes.
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