There’s nothing wrong with this picture: Reaction to Waleed’s Gold

IN THE end, Waleed Aly did take home the Gold Logie, and the sky didn’t fall in. Here’s how Australia reacted to his victory.

Waleed Aly clutches the Gold Logie.

IN THE end, Waleed Aly won the Gold Logie, and the sky didn’t fall in.

Aly acknowledged the debate that had surrounded his nomination with his trademark no nonsense approach. “There’s nothing wrong with this picture.”

And as Australia reacted to the news, it seemed many agreed — one only had to look at new Logies Hall of Famer’s Noni Hazelhurst’s tears as Aly spoke to know that.

Social media lit up with congratulations, many quoting another of Aly’s lines in his speech, “yes, this is happening”.

Fellow Gold Logie nominee Lee Lin Chin, whose Twitter account usually is pure delightful sarcasm, interrupted normal transmission with a heartfelt message to the winner.

“As much as I would have loved to have won the Logie, I would never have been as articulate as Waleed. Australian TV needs more of you,” she wrote.

As much as I would have loved to won the Logie, I would have never been as articulate as him. Australian TV needs more of you.

— Lee Lin Chin (@LeeLinChinSBS) May 8, 2016

Her next tweet showed she was back to her spectacularly acerbic norm: “Congratulations to Waleed, as a newsreader I respect the hell out of you. As a narcissist I will bathe in your blood”.

Aly’s win wasn’t enough to silence the haters, but they were momentarily drowned out..

Among Aly’s peers laying on the congratulations were SBS Insight host Jenny Brockie: “Warm congrats to Waleed Aly on the Gold Logie. A great night for diversity at #TVWEEKLogies let’s hope our industry is changing,” she tweeted.

Channel Seven’s Mel Doyle praised “an incredible speech from a passionate and principled man”, while Jamie Durie offered “congratulations ... as I’ve said you’re the smartest man in TV”.

Then there were the converts, one punter observing: “Have to admit when #WaleedAly started on @theprojecttv I didn’t rate him but he grew on me because of his beliefs/style. Deserved his win”.

Golden moment: Waleed Aly savours his win.

Others chose to poke at the haters, and take a swipe at politicians — one social media user, Keira, wrote: “#BREAKING L/NP govt to move next year’s #TVWEEKLogies to Manus Island after Waleed Aly won the #GoldLogie,” then sat back to watch “the racists reply”.

Some celebrated “smashing that ceiling” others celebrated “just as we might lose faith in Australians. then #WaleedAly wins gold. it’s bloody brilliant!”

By early this morning the #WaleedAly hashtag, which one user observed “makes it SO much easier to weed out all the racist Morlocks & bigoted inbreeds”.

There were others though who took exception to Aly dedicating his win to people with an unpronounceable name.

Meanwhile some set up the search for the elusive “Mustafa” who Aly referred to in his acceptance speech — a member of the industry who cannot use his real name because he won’t get work.

The #whoismustafa hashtag had humorous offerings including “We all know its Mustafa Stefanovic”, “Mustafa Minogue” and “Mustafa Lin Chin”.