Network Ten’s Sandra Sully accidentally calls One Nation’s Pauline Hanson a ‘rapist’ with blooper set to go viral

While reading the TV news, veteran journalist Sandra Sully has apologised to Senator Pauline Hanson for accidentally calling her a rapist.

Veteran newsreader Sandra Sully has apologised after incorrectly calling politician Pauline Hanson a rapist.

Reading the Monday evening news bulletin on Ten, Sully pointed to an upcoming story on Hanson’s legal stoush with deputy Greens leader Mehreen Faruqi.

“Plus, Pauline Hanson in court,” she told viewers. “Why the One Nation leader has been forced to fight claims that she is a rapist. Racist, I apologise. And correct, racist.”

The awkward blooper will undoubtedly go viral given Hanson’s polarising personality.

Hanson is currently in the Federal Court defending her telling Senator Faruqi to “piss off back to Pakistan”.

Senators Hanson and Faruqi’s battle began following the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

On September 9, 2022 Senator Faruqi tweeted: “I cannot mourn the leader of a racist empire built on stolen lives, land and wealth of colonised peoples.”

Pauline Hanson is seen leaving the Supreme Court with her bbarrister Sue Chrysanthou SC. Picture: NCA Newswire / Gaye Gerard

Senator Hanson later responded to the tweet with the alleged offending remark.

She reiterated the sentiment in parliament, contending that she would take the deputy Greens leader “to the airport and put (her) on a plane and wave (her) away”. While the statement was covered by parliamentary privilege, she would later withdraw it under threat of senate censure.

Senator Faruqi first took Senator Hanson to the Human Rights Commission over the tweet, before suing the One Nation leader in a racial discrimination claim.

Network Ten journalist Sandra Sully. Picture: Britta Campion

The deputy Greens leader contended she had faced “a torrent of abusive (messages)” in the wake of Senator Hanson’s statement.

In court on Monday, Hanson argued Faruqi is “only against certain forms of racism”.

Senator Hanson’s legal team presented Senator Faruqi with a since-deleted Instagram post in which Senator Faruqi is pictured standing alongside a protester holding a sign that read “keep the world clean” alongside an image of Israel’s flag above a rubbish bin. The social media post was posited to illustrate a disregard for what Senator Hanson’s legal team argued was racism against white people.

Senator Faruqi’s legal team labelled Senator Hanson a “prolific sayer of racist things” who provoked a “pile-on” against her.

Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi. Picture: NCA Newswire / Gaye Gerard

Senator Hanson’s barrister Sue Chrysanthou SC contended that Senator Faruqi displayed a regular pattern of mistakenly perceiving racial slights against her, while offending others online in a manner similar to what Senator Hanson faces trial for.

The hearing continues Tuesday with Senator Hanson slated for cross-examination.

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