‘We should be careful with public shaming’: Tim Minchin rethinks his George Pell protest song

Eight years after harnessing the power of social media to demand Cardinal Pell return to Australia for a royal commission into institutional child abuse, Tim Minchin concedes he no longer feels comfortable with public shaming.

Released in 2016, Come Home (Cardinal Pell) quickly became a viral hit. It shined a spotlight on Pell, Australia’s most high-profile Catholic, and raised questions about his inability to return home to meet with victims and give evidence at the commission.

Eight years after Come Home (Cardinal Pell) became a viral success, Tim Minchin is no longer convinced that public shaming is the right mechanism for change. Credit: Stephen Kiprillis

Come Home (Cardinal Pell) notched up millions of views while also raising funds to send Ballarat abuse survivors to Rome to hear Cardinal Pell testify.

On the latest episode of Good Weekend Talks, Minchin admits his relationship with the song has changed due to his increasing discomfort about social media pile-ons and cancel culture.

“I’ve been part of massive public shaming with Pell, and I reflect on that song now, I think about the possible unintended consequences,” Minchin says. “I worry that the unintended consequence is we become a divided nation.”

At the time, Minchin’s track was lauded by some as hard-hitting satire that served a purpose.

Minchin maintains the intention was correct: “I knew every flight Pell had taken in the previous months, I knew he had only seen a doctor in the Vatican. I believed he could come home, and I knew how meaningful it would be for victims to have an apology.”

However, he takes issue with the way it was delivered: “Is public shaming the right mechanism for change in a post-social media world? Probably not,” he says.

“I think we should be careful with public shaming as a rule. Why does anyone get to be the moral arbiter? Public shaming cannot be the primary mechanism because it will come for all of us,” continues Minchin.

“Not just the straight white guy, not just the rich colonialist, but also anyone marginalised, non-binary, gay, lesbian, eventually everyone gets their turn.”

In a wide-ranging conversation, Minchin also takes issue with “wokeness” admitting he has previously been guilty of what he calls “performative righteousness.”

“It is just performing your righteousness to your own people, and I know this because I did it for years, and I didn’t realise I did it until I stopped and asked myself: why am I posting about Trump and Brexit, and who am I?” Minchin says.

“Whose mind am I trying to change? I’m an artist. If you’re going to tackle it, put it in your freaking work.”

Minchin is no stranger to sharing his opinions on “performative righteousness”. Last year, the Matilda composer reportedly described the three actors at the centre of a furore for wearing traditional keffiyeh scarves at the opening night of Sydney Theatre Company’s production of The Seagull as living in leftie glass bubbles.

Minchin denies making the comments, and there are no direct quotes or audio. However, on the Good Weekend Talks podcast, he does address his frustrations with the nature of public debate in 2024.

“I would consider myself a left-leaning social progressive, I mean, I’m supposed to be a leftie, right? But I find the way my ostensibly progressive friends act kind of appalling because I don’t think it’s progressive to call anyone you disagree with a fascist,” says Minchin.

“It’s as if they deliberately switch off empathy for someone because they’re a race or gender that they view as an oppressor, not an oppressed.”

Tim Minchin’s first non-fiction book, You Don’t Have to Have a Dream (Advice for the Incrementally Ambitious), is available now.

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