Critics slam Stan Grant for decision to boot Putin sympathiser from Q+A audience

The Q&A host’s decision to remove on live television an audience member who made pro-Russian claims has divided opinion | HAVE YOUR SAY

ABC’s Q&A host Stan Grant has been slammed for shutting down a Russian-Australian audience member and eventually removing him from the studio for questioning the media coverage on the Ukrainian conflict.

In an extraordinary move, University of Melbourne student Sasha Gillies-Lekakis was instructed by Grant to leave midway through the show, a short time after he made pro-Russian claims on air that have largely been discredited

Publisher Louise Adler was among those to criticise Grant’s surprise move on Twitter which sent social media into overdrive.

.@QandA a solitary voice proposing a counter-narrative on the Russian-Ukraine disaster is shut down,cancelled and asked to leave. #StanGrant Really? Is there only one view permitted now on our @ABC ?

— Louise Adler (@louiseadler) March 3, 2022

“.@QandA a solitary voice proposing a counter-narrative on the Russian-Ukraine disaster is shut down, cancelled and asked to leave. #StanGrant Really? Is there only one view permitted now on our @ABC?,” she wrote.

Adler wasn’t alone in her criticism of the ABC host. Sky News Australia presenter and former Senator Cory Bernardi also voiced his outrage at the ejection of Mr Gillies-Lekakis .

“This encapsulates everything that is wrong with our media and especially their ABC,” he wrote.

“Of course, this was no Stan Grant ‘reflection’. He would have been told to do this by the producer. #TheirABC #Disgrace #auspol.”

Mr Gillies-Lekakis defended his questioning on the show after he appeared to advocate retaliatory violence and later said on social media his question was submitted to the QandA team and was edited shortly before the program began.

“I would just like to say that, following my appearance on QandA, I am aware that there has been a lot of controversy surrounding certain statements I made and the position I took regarding the Russia-Ukraine situation,” he wrote on Facebook on Friday morning.

“I am unequivocally against war and the loss of any lives, be they Ukrainian, Russian, or any other, and want to be clear that I made no statements indicating anything to the contrary – I made no direct statement sanctioning violence or conflict.”

This encapsulates everything that is wrong with our media and especially their ABC. Of course, this was no Stan Grant 'reflection'. He would have been told to do this by the producer. #TheirABC#Disgrace#auspolhttps://t.co/heMW3iR4zM

— CoryBernardi.com.au (@corybernardi) March 3, 2022

The extraordinary moment on television was triggered by widely discredited pro-Russian claims about killings in Ukraine.

After taking an inflammatory question from Mr Gillies-Lekakis, the show moved on, but its host could not.

Mr Gillies-Lekakis asked the panel hosts: “As someone who comes from the Russian community here in Australia, I’ve been pretty outraged by the narrative depicted by our media, with Ukraine as the good guy and Russia as the bad guy.

“Believe it or not, there are a lot of Russians here and around the world that support what Putin’s doing in Ukraine, myself included.”

He went on to claim Ukraine had “besieged” the Russian populations in Donetsk and Luhansk and killed about 13,000 people, before audience members began to heckle him, with calls of “that’s a lie”, “don’t do this” and “propaganda”.

Grant eventually decided to take action, booting the questioner in emotional scenes.

“Something has been bothering me … people here have been talking about family who are suffering and people who are dying. Can I just say – I’m just not comfortable with you being here. Could you please leave?,” Grant said.

Russian-Australian man Sasha Gillies-Lekakis was booted from Q+A. Picture: ABC

The questioner tried to argue his case but Grant was having none of it.

“You can ask a question, but we cannot advocate violence. I should have asked you to leave then. It‘s been playing on my mind and, I’m sorry, but I have to ask you to leave.”

Grant appeared visibly shaken while asking the young man to leave.

Later, Grant apologised for the disruption and explained the question had not been vetted.

He said while it was unfortunate to exclude people from the debate, advocating violence was never welcome.

“We come here in good faith to have open conversation, rigorous conversation. We’ve heard different points of view, and we encourage different points of view here,” he said.

“But we can’t have anyone who is sanctioning, supporting, violence and killing of people. So I‘m sorry for the disruption. It was not a vetted question. It was a rogue question. It’s not good.”

STATEMENT FOLLOWING QANDA 03/03/2022, THAT HAS BEEN SENT TO THE ABC REGARDING MISREPRESENTATION AND AUDIENCE...

Posted by Sasha GL on Thursday, March 3, 2022

Mr Gillies-Lekakis said for peace to be achieve

Mr Gillies-Lekakis said for peace to be achieved, genuine understanding and “empathy” must be shown to both sides.

For this to be achieved, media narratives of “good and evil” should not be portrayed in the media, he argues.

He said the Q+A host was “disappointing and unprofessional” and said the ABC had “questionable conduct” during the night.

“I am genuinely sorry that things took the turn they did … if my question was not appropriate for the show after being vetted and edited, I wonder why I was invited at all,” he said.

Mr Gillies-Lekakis has since been slammed online, with many people in support of Grant for booting him off the show.

“You’re an idiot. And you proved it on national television. Maybe you can pack a bag for Russia if you support Putin so much,” one man wrote on Facebook.

“Sasha gets the boot. GOOD! Nazism should NEVER be accepted. NEVER,” another wrote on Twitter.