Clementine Ford to keep money despite ‘offensive’ tweet
Feminist writer Clementine Ford will keep thousands of dollars in council arts funding despite saying that the coronavirus wasn’t “killing men fast enough”, with one councillor vowing not to censor artists.
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Clementine Ford will keep thousands of dollars in arts funding despite tweeting that the coronavirus wasn’t “killing men fast enough”.
And a Melbourne City councillor has said a review into the grants program would not be a “trojan horse for the censorship of artists”.
Ford sparked outrage online with her now-deleted tweet, which Lord Mayor Sally Capp described as offensive, distasteful, “deliberately divisive and incredibly unhelpful”.
“I found these comments offensive and distasteful and I agree with the sentiment of outrage expressed by many members of our community,” she said.
Melbourne City Council’s arts chair Rohan Leppert has now weighed into the debate, saying Ford would not be stripped of the funding.
“The decisions to award grants have been finalised and they will not be undone,” he tweeted.
“Above and beyond the politics of the day, recouping funds is not even a legally available option.
“Ms Ford’s application met the criteria strongly. It is entirely inappropriate to retrospectively apply special criteria to one applicant.”
The council told the Herald Sun yesterday that it would review the grants program, designed to help the arts sectors through the coronavirus pandemic.
But Cr Leppert said council would not become “the arbiter of taste and offence”, and the review would “not be a trojan horse for the censorship of artists or the arts”.
“A post-program review of what went well and what needed improving was something we planned to do regardless as a matter of good practice,” he said.
“Arts Grants are frequently controversial. It is incumbent on politicians to uphold the integrity of the processes that are set up, knowing that they like others will disagree with some individual outcomes.”
Amid online outrage, Ford posted on Twitter that she was “a big enough person to admit when I’ve misjudged something”.
“I still stand 100% behind my fury at men exploiting women’s unpaid labour (exacerbated by the global pandemic), but I’ve reconsidered my flippancy in discussing it,” she said.
“Regardless of what people want to think about me, I have no wish to compound harm and grief for anyone, nor be dismissive of the very real impact and fear a crisis like this presents.”
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