Sam Newman has removed a controversial tweet about US president-elect Joe Biden
Sam Newman has quickly removed a controversial tweet about US president-elect Joe Biden. Here’s what he posted and why.
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Sam Newman has removed a tweet calling new American president Joe Biden “mentally retarded”.
The former TV host was heavily criticised after posting on Sunday afternoon and also after he removed it soon after.
He wrote: “Great day for inclusion and diversity. Shows someone who is mentally retarded and has special needs, can attain high office. Congratulations, Joe Biden #punchandjudyshow.”
Among those who called out the controversial personality were 3AW radio host Neil Mitchell.
Newman told his followers he deleted the tweet for a reason, but “not the one you think”.
He told the Herald Sun he didn’t intend to cause offence and it was not written in a derogatory context.
“Someone told me that people had taken exception to it, I’m not here to offend people, so I withdrew it,’’ he said.
“If you’ve been following that man over the last six months, he has a medical condition.
“Mentally retarded, if you look it up, that’s exactly what it is. I’m not using it as a slang or derisive term, as such.
“Those terms are not exclusively reserved for slanging off or maligning people, they are medical terms. There’s plenty of people commenting on Biden’s mental acuity and his ability to remember who he is, where he is, what state he’s in.
“You’ve only just got to follow him and I’m saying it’s extraordinary that a person with that condition can be elected to run. I don’t give a stuff if Trump is president or not, it is staggering that man can be put up as running, as they say the most powerful country in the world, when he has an obvious mental condition.”
Newman is no stranger to copping criticism after his long association with Channel 9 ended in June over comments about George Floyd who died during an arrest by police in America.
They were made on his You Cannot Be Serious podcast.
Recently Newman, a Donald Trump supporter, told the Sacked: Showbiz podcast that he was often maligned for not always having a mainstream opinion.
“I’m probably the most polarising, not that I’m a personality, but the most polarising public figure in Australia probably,’’ he said.
“Because quite a few people agree with what I say and quite a few don’t.
“If you don’t speak reasonably highly of someone who people have an opinion of you are branded. I would like to think, I thought I was about the most non discriminatory person in the business because I used to give an opinion about people no matter who or what they were. But people, those on a mission and those who have an agenda, and the activists they round you up.”
Comedian Dave Hughes also came under fire at the weekend for a since deleted tweet appearing to mock Biden’s stutter.
Hughes was forced to defend himself after followers angrily called him out.
He said he didn’t know Biden had battled with a stutter, posting: “I would NEVER mock someone’s stutter. I was commenting on Joe’s struggle to read the autocue. I didn’t think it had anything to do with a stutter. Sorry for my ignorance.”
Hughes received support from the likes of Peter Helliar, Lachy Hulme, Rebecca Maddern and Todd Sampson.
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