The celebrity roast of Molly Meldrum last night was the most insulting and homophobic piece of Australian television I think I have ever had the misfortune to sit through. It should have been a fun dig at a prominent Australian television personality. Instead it turned into a string of insulting, indeed defamatory comments masquerading as humour.
It started out well enough, with a pack of beefy muscle men carrying in Molly on top of a throne. But it was all downhill from there. Channel Nine trotted out a pack of �entertainers� whose best efforts belonged to the tits and arse school of British humour, epitomised by such glorious greats as Benny Hill. But even Benny Hill would have done a better job than the bumbling and stumbling efforts of the second rate hacks that got up and did their five minutes. From �Red� Simons to Sam Neuman the jokes where flat, trite and insulting.
If they weren�t implying that Molly was a woman then they where making a cheap sexual innuendo. Sam Neuman jumped straight into the gutter when he made the attempted joke: �what�s the difference between a hobo and an homo.� Now Channel nine cut the punch line but they should have never allowed Neuman to even speak. The shots of the audience reaction to the cut punchline where pure shock and horror as you saw their jaws almost hit the floor.
Even Burt Newtown, put his foot in it. He made the comment that he had met Molly by ringing a number off a toilet wall. For someone who claims to be gay friendly his comment was incredibly insulting and homophobic.
Would Sam Neuman or anyone else on that poor excuse for a roast been allowed to make a �coon� joke, or a �nigger� joke? Of course not. And would Channel Nine tar and feather a prominent straight identity with smut and sexual innuendo? Absolutely not. But Channel Nine seems to think that gays are easy targets for the most insulting, crude and defematory humour imaginable.
I have some advice for you Channel Nine. You need to catch up with what�s actually going on in the world of entertainment because last night you where 30 years behind. Gay men and lesbians don�t like the type of humour you resorted to last night � particularly when the jokes made where not funny. If you want to attract a gay audience, as one of your guests hinted, then why don�t you look at the great new TV shows like Queer as Folk and Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. Those shows work because they are clever, funny and entertaining � all the things that your roast was not.
And about your entertainers - pack off last night�s hacks to the Sunny Vale Entertainers Retirement home and get some real comedians that don�t need to trawl the sewers of the country for their humour. If you want gay viewers to watch your programs then treat us with respect and not contempt. And my advice to Molly Meldrum is that if he does feel that he was �gay bashed� as he has claimed then he should sue Channel Nine for putting him through such an insulting experience. I think a million dollars should do.
This letter was published in the Sydney Star Observer shortly after the infamous 'Roast.'
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