Erin Molan denies allegations of casual racism after court hears radio clips | australian media

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Nine host Erin Molan said in court proceedings that she did not indulge in occasional racism when she repeatedly mocked the mispronunciation of Polynesian, Chinese, Indian names and Japanese on the 2GB rugby league radio show.

The 39-year-old is suing the Daily Mail for defamation over an article and two tweets that she says describe her as racist, after she said hooka looka mooka hooka fooka on the air in May 2020 on the Continuous Call program.

On the first day of the trial, the federal court heard that Daily Mail Australia editor Barclay Crawford emailed a reporter telling him to tear up that sheila before the website published the article on Molan.

On the second day, Molan was cross-examined on historical references to ethnic names, and at one point, she was asked to put on a Chinese accent to recreate a comment she made on air.

Molan told Daily Mails attorney Bruce McClintock SC that the May show and all the other clips aired in court had nothing to do with mocking the name and ethnicity of someone.

The Nine Rugby League commentator said it was a common joke on the show to try and make accents from all over the world and the humor lay in the hosts making fun of their own bad accents.

McClintock told her that when she said that I have loved you for a very long time, a very handsome man, she was making fun of a Chinese prostitute.

You were committing a despicable act of occasional racism when you imitated that Chinese accent, McClintock said.

Molan: I don’t accept that I indulge in occasional racism. No, I had a Chinese accent, absolutely, it’s been part of the humor of the series for 30 years and I quoted a movie, a line from a movie, a very famous line.

McClintock asked if that was racist when she said Do you like raw feeh? in a conversation about Japanese women giving birth and having sex, to which Molan replied no.

What were you referring to, McClintock asked.

Molan: Very popular Japanese cuisine which I was referring to as sushi.

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After playing recordings of shows in which Molan and others mocked imitations of Indian and Balinese accents, McClintock asked, mockery is a fair enough description of what you’re doing isn’t it? and suggested that the nature of the joke was not good-natured and would disturb any Indian or Chinese who could hear it.

The whole show is very good-natured, Molan said. We laugh at ourselves and we laugh. No one has ever raised an issue about an element of racism or anything else that I have been aware of on the show for the past five years. We’ve had people of different races call out and try to train us to do different accents.

Molan told the court that she didn’t make fun of Polynesian names when she said hooka looka mooka hooka fooka.

You can’t honestly suggest that it didn’t make fun of Polynesian names, can it, Ms. Molan, clearly it was, McClintock asked.

Molan: I totally disagree with that, sir. It’s making a joke about a father and son trying to make a name for themselves. I don’t agree that Polynesian names have never been the butt of any joke we ever made on the continuous calling.

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Earlier, an emotional Molan cried as she told the court she was depressed and inconsolable after the article was published.

I was afraid people would read the articles and stories, and think I was racist, she said. And I was afraid that people might scold me on the street. I was concerned that the multiple threats of physical violence I received, including from a convicted felon and many others, would seek to find me and hurt me and my daughter.

Molan will finish testifying on Wednesday morning.

The Daily Mails defense filed in federal court alleges that from 2017 to 2020, the Continuing Appeal Team frequently engaged in discussions with racist content.

On some occasions, this included mocking ethnic names, especially Pacific Islanders and Mori people. On other occasions, it featured coarse accents (often Chinese and Indian) and references to stereotypes related to particular races or cultures.

Molans’ lawyer said the Daily Mail took something that was possibly stupid, perhaps frivolous and turned it into something sinister and extremely damaging to [her] reputation.

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