ABC presenter Stan Grant lashes online hatred needs a break from the media

The presenter condemned online abuse he and his family had suffered in his final appearance on the ABC before receving a standing ovation | WATCH

Q+A host Stan Grant said he is “down right now” but “will get back up” after taking a much-needed break from his role at the public broadcaster.

Visibly upset, the Wiradjuri, Gurrawin and Dharawal man hosted his final Q+A program on Monday night before taking an indefinite break and in the final minutes of the show he condemned those who had racially attacked him and his family and said the online abuse had taken a toll.

“To those who have abused me and my family I would just say, if you’re aim was to hurt me you’ve succeeded and I’m sorry, I’m sorry that I must have given you so much cause to hate me so much to target me and my family and make threats against me, I’m sorry,” he said on air.

“Please send that support and care to those of my people who feel abandoned and alone and are wondering whether they have a place in this country and who don’t have my privileges.”

Grant announced last Friday he was standing down as host of Q+A and would no longer write columns for the ABC after declaring he was the target of “relentless” racial abuse.

He received a standing ovation from the Q+A audience just days after he expressed his “disappointment” in the lack of support offered to him by his employer after the public broadcaster received intense criticism for its coverage of King Charles III’s coronation earlier this month.

“I am down but I will get back up. And you can come at me again and I will meet you with the love of my people.” Stan Grant delivers a powerful message on Q+A before taking a break from the media. #StanGrant#QandA#WeStandWithStanpic.twitter.com/avNBJtzSMK

— QandA (@QandA) May 22, 2023

Grant was critical of the media during his final on-air address and said: “We in the media must ask if we are truly honouring a world worth living in.

“I’m not walking away for a while because of racism, we get that far too often, I’m not walking away because of social media hatred, I need a break from the media.

“I feel like I’m part of the problem and I feel like I need to ask myself how or if we can do it better.”

Independent senator David Pocock who was part of the Q+A panel broadcast from the ABC’s Melbourne studios in Southbank, said during the show: “We clearly have a long way to go”.

“When you see someone like Stan and what’s happening to him or watching Adam Goodes getting booed, that’s not just Adam Goodes getting booed that has a ripple effect,” he said.

Other panellists included Labor MP Dr Michelle Ananda-Rajah, Liberal MP Zoe McKenzie, independent senator Tammy Tyrrell and Greens MP Max Chandler-Mather.

ABC managing director David Anderson issued a public apology to Grant on Sunday and expressed sorrow that he had been the target of “such sickening behaviour”.

On Monday hundreds of ABC staff walked off the job across the country, some holding signs that read, “I Stand With Stan” and “We Reject Racism”, while others held Aboriginal flags.

Among those present at the protests including Grant’s wife and ABC broadcaster Tracey Holmes and Grant’s ex-wife and NITV host Karla Grant, while the ABC’s director of news Justin Stevens addressed staff and said: “I am incredibly sorry that he (Grant) felt let down by our organisation, we could have done better by him, by defending him”.

Grant was part of a one-hour panel in the lead-up to the coronation that discussed at length colonisation and the detrimental impacts of the British monarchy on Indigenous Australians, resulting in more than 1700 complaints by viewers.

The fallout has since resulted in the ABC ombudsman Fiona Cameron conducting a review of the coverage, and whether it breached editorial standards.

Grant was formally appointed as the sole host of Q+A in July 2022, a full year after Hamish Macdonald quit and was replaced for several months with a rotating roster of presenters.

Radio National breakfast host Patricia Karvelas will host Q+A next Monday while Grant considers his future.

ABC news director Justin Stevens said on radio on Monday the Q+A program would go on a break in a few weeks and “hopefully he (Grant) will return after the mid-season break”.