Beau Ryan’s racist Footy Show segment sparks outrage

CHANNEL Nine’s NRL Footy Show has caused outrage among viewers, airing a racist segment by popular ‘funny man’ Beau Ryan that has been labelled ‘abhorrent’ and ‘backwards’.

WINNING a Logie award in no way compensates for a total lack of class.

Such was the case for Channel Nine’s NRL Footy Show last night when a segment branded by viewers as racist was aired and publicised on the program’s Twitter account.

The regular Beau Knows segment, headed by self-styled larrikin and retired footballer Beau Ryan, hit the streets of Wentworthville in Sydney’s west.

Response to The Footy Show’s segment.

The Footy Show tweet that was taken down.

At one point as Ryan is walking along the street he stops beside a woman of Asian descent who was taking a photo of three dogs in the window of an optometrist.

“Picking out which one for dinner?” Ryan asks before grinning at the camera.

A nine-second long sequence of the segment was posted to the show’s Twitter account directly after it aired. The tweet remained online for more than an hour before being deleted.

The response from the public was swift and brutal.

Viewers labelled the clip “racist” and “abhorrent”.

Ryan took aim at Wentworthville’s cultural background earlier in the segment as well.

Beau Ryan, Paul Fatty Vautin, Erin Molan, Darryl Brohman and Glenn Pallister at the Logies. Picture: Gina Milicia/Channel 9

The area has “a couple of different cultures”, Ryan tells viewers before asking two men in the street their nationalities.

One man indicates he is of Lebanese heritage. The other, Chinese.

“Lebanese and Chinese,” Ryan quips. “Wouldn’t have picked it.”

Nine this morning apologised for the segment.

“We apologise for any offence caused, the segment is a comedy one where we have fun with people, but not intentionally at their expense,” NRL Footy Show executive producer Glenn Pallister said in a statement.

“We clearly went too far on this occasion.”

The public backlash will come as sour news to a television network still dealing with fallout from Broncos star Sam Thaiday’s on-field comments after Queensland’s State of Origin win on Wednesday.

Sam Thaiday during his interview with Brad Fittler.

Public opinion was divided after Thaiday, in a post-match interview with Brad Fittler during Nine’s coverage of the match, described Queensland’s win as “a bit like losing your virginity — it wasn’t nice but we got the job done”.

Ryan himself is also no stranger to controversy. The former Tigers and Sharks player went into hiding last year after claims of an affair with former Hi-5 star Lauren Brant.

Father-of-one Ryan and Brant copped a tirade of backlash in September in the wake of allegations that the pair had a romantic affair.

Warren Riley, Brant’s ex-fiance, aired the story in a Woman’s Day article, claiming she and Ryan met while working on the Aladdin and his Wondrous Lamp stage production earlier this year.

Lauren Brant and Beau Ryan. Picture: Facebook

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