Clementine Ford resigns from Nine newspapers, issues social media plea for financial support

Clementine Ford has begged her social media followers for financial support after her resignation as a columnist at Nine newspapers.

Clementine Ford has resigned from Nine.

Clementine Ford has begged her social media followers for financial support after her resignation as a columnist at Nine newspapers.

Ford posted a link to her Patreon account this morning, which allows people to pledge money to her online.

“Support my patreon (please)” Ford wrote underneath the link on her Instagram page.

“Are you a regularly accused of being a misandrist? Do you bathe in a pool of male tears each night before bed?” reads the overview on her page.

“This is an entirely voluntary pledge process. My writing will still be freely available and my Facebook page will remain open so that I can connect directly with people,” Ford said.

“However if you value what I do and want to help support me to keep doing it, your patronage would be greatly appreciated.”

Ford promises all donations will help her continue to produce “feminist content”.

“All of your donations will help me to keep producing feminist content that challenges and explores the world we live in, while also providing me a platform to signal boost the work of other women and non binary voices,’’ she says.

For as little a $1 a month, Ford will give a shout out to her donors on Twitter. For $5, donors will receive a personal email of thanks from her, and for $10 or more, Ford will “curse ten men in your honour”.

Patreon is a popular website amongst social media activists, who ask for voluntary donations in exchange for consuming their work on Instagram.

Columnist’s ‘new Fairfax’ rant

Ford resigned from her position as a columnist at Nine citing a caution by her employer after she called Prime Minister Scott Morrison a “f...ing disgrace”.

The controversial columnist took to Twitter last night to announce her resignation, telling her followers that her employer — which was previously known as Fairfax Media before its takeover by Nine late last year — was “dead.”

“Also, here’s some tea and I can spill it now that I have resigned from Fairfax: in September, they threatened to fire me because I had called transphobic Scott Morrison a ‘f...ing disgrace’ on Twitter and they said that new policy was we ‘didn’t disrespect the office of the PM’,” she wrote.

“Anyway, bye Fairf**ked!”, Ford wrote in another tweet before going on to explain that she had reached a point where a “shitty salary with the shitty work conditions” wasn’t enough to justify her continued employment at the company, which publishes The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

Ford accused her former employer of “protecting the Liberal brand’’ and asked why was the PM “being protected from criticism by a supposedly independent news org(anisation)’’.

“I received a call from my then boss telling me that a memo had recently been circulated dictating the office of the PM was not to be disrespected,’’ Ford wrote.

“From what was translated to me, ffx (Fairfax) were very concerned The Australian would write an article about it so needed to show some disciplinary action had been taken. Fine, give me 4 weeks paid leave, I said. Free $$$ woo!

“But on a more serious note (and as I said then), why are ffx allowing their policies to be dictated by a news source wholly unconnected with them? And why is the Prime Minister being protected from criticism by a supposedly independent news org?’’

But on a more serious note (and as I said then), why are ffx allowing their policies to be dictated by a news source wholly unconnected with them? And why is the Prime Minister being protected from criticism by a supposedly independent news org?

— Clementine Ford 🧟‍♀️ (@clementine_ford) January 30, 2019

Ford said while she expected to be labelled as “difficult” in the wake of her resignation, she urged her followers not to believe any potential rumours surrounding her work ethic.

“I was a loyal and committed contributor for 7 years and they benefited greatly from me being connected to the masthead,” she wrote.

She is no stranger to controversy having had her keynote speech for a Lifeline fundraising event cancelled last year after 14,000 people signed a petition against her appearance.

The outrage was sparked after Ford tweeted “All men must die” and “I bathe in male tears”, which some claimed made her unsuitable to address the suicide prevention group’s “Recognise, Respond, Refer” event in Melbourne.

Life Editor of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age Monique Farmer told The Australian Ford had been a contributor to the mastheads for seven years and thanked her for her work over that time.