Kathy Lette responds to criticism over ‘gross’ Coronation joke about Pacific Islands

An Aussie author and friend of Queen Camilla sparked backlash for joking about a major threat.

British-Australian author Kathy Lette has been slammed for making a “gross” quip about a sinking Pacific nation during the live coverage of King Charles III’s coronation.

Lette was among the panel for Sky News UK’s broadcast of the coronation, outside Buckingham Palace, when she joked about the remote island nation of Tuvalu going under water.

Kathy Lette (middle, right) appeared on a panel alongside the King’s former press secretary Patrick Harrison (left), Olympic gold medallist Dame Kelly Holmes, and Sky News UK presenter Anna Botting (right). Picture: Sky News UK

The panel was discussing whether more nations in the realm might become republics when host Anna Botting mentioned Tuvalu, and asks if that was “the one that wanted to stay (in the Commonwealth) the most”.

Lette responds laughing: “Tuvalu! Yeah, well they’re about to go under water.”

The panel laughed at the comment – but Botting gritted her teeth before saying “let’s hope not” – and Lette continued.

“So, snorkels on,” she said, miming pulling the breathing apparatus onto her head and doing a quick ‘royal wave’, drawing more laughs.

Lette mimed wearing a snorkel, as the panel laughed along. Picture: Sky News UK

And mimed a quick royal wave. Picture: Sky News UK

The Puberty Blues co-author faced swift and severe backlash for the “outrageous” joke at the expense of the 11,000 Tuvaluans facing a very real, existential threat of climate change.

Tuvalu Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Kofe even chimed in, asking how anyone could find humour in the “potential loss of entire countries and cultures due to climate change”.

“It’s beyond comprehension and completely unacceptable. We must call out this behaviour and hold those responsible accountable for their ignorance,” Mr Kofe tweeted in response to the video.

How can anyone find humor in the potential loss of entire countries and cultures due to climate change? It's beyond comprehension and completely unacceptable. We must call out this behavior and hold those responsible accountable for their ignorance. https://t.co/C9FcnoM32v

— Simon Kofe (@Simon_Kofe) May 7, 2023

The Foreign Minister famously addressed the United Nations’ Climate Change Conference, COP26, while standing knee-deep in the ocean to raise awareness about the real threat climate change poses for his tiny low-lying nation in Polynesia, about 1000km north of Fiji.

Tuvalu Foreign Minister Simon Kofe made the bold statement at the UN's climate conference in 2021 by standing in the ocean. Picture: Facebook

In the years since, Mr Kofe has staged a number of media events with foreign dignitaries in the crystal blue Pacific waters, most recently with his Japanese counterpart Yoshimasa Hayashi.

Others on social media have called for Sky News and Lette to issue an apology for the “shameful” comments.

Indeed shameful ! The news channel and the media personalities must issue an apology without fail !

— Amit Chand (@amitchnd) May 7, 2023

“This is really sad. The panel making fun of Tuvalu and its people who are feeling the full effects of climate change and rising sea levels. Will the panel apologise?” another wrote.

Some said the comments echoed the same offensive ‘banter’ between then-Prime Minister Tony Abbott, and his Immigration Minister Peter Dutton, and Social Services Minister Scott Morrison about Pacific nations having “water lapping at (their) door” in 2015.

The 2021 United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report warned sea levels have already risen by around 20cm between 1901 and 2018. Oceans rose 3.7mm per year between 2006 and 2018, and the report predicted levels would rise a further 15-25cm by 2050.

Aerial view of houses on the South Pacific island of Tuvalu – 6000 people live in the capital of Funafuti

Tuvalu, which was built on a ring of nine coral atolls and three impossibly thin reef islands that barely poke their heads above the Pacific Ocean, is considered to be extremely vulnerable to climate change.

Its highest point is just 4.5 metres above sea level, and experts have predicted that it will eventually sink in less than 80 years

The country’s authorities have been discussing the future of its people – including where in the world they will have to move – its government and cultural customs.

Foreign Minister Kofe has said the island has “no choice but to become the world’s first digital nation” by moving their world “to the Cloud”.

Mr Kofe delivered another address, saying his nation would be the first to enter the metaverse.

This is the first digital recreation of an island in Tuvalu.

Lette has since addressed the backlash, but stopped short of apologising for her comments.

“Did not mean to be glib about Tuvalu. Climate change is horrific and terrifying,” she tweeted on Sunday evening (AEST).

Did not mean to be glib about Tuvalu. Climate change is horrific and terrifying.

— Kathy Lette (@KathyLette) May 7, 2023

Many were still not convinced by here response, saying laughing about people going under water and needing “snorkels” is “absolutely meant to be glib”.

“It’s a well-worn white Australian tradition of treating Pacific Islanders and the region as disposable. It wouldn’t be hard to issue an apology,” one user wrote, repeating the growing call for an official apology.

ABC Pacific replied to Lette by sharing a package about how Tuvalu is facing and responding to climate change.