Stephen Hagan sues Nine Entertainment, Daily Mail over racial slur

A prominent Aboriginal activist is suing the Daily Mail and Nine Entertainment over stories published in 2020 that alleged he was leading the fight to rename Pauls ‘Smarter White Milk’.

Stephen Hagan says a series of stories published in the Daily Mail and picked up by Nine claiming he wanted to rename Pauls Smarter White Milk were racially motivated. Picture: Lenn Campbell.

A prominent Aboriginal activist is suing the Daily Mail and Nine ­Entertainment over stories published in 2020, which alleged he was pushing for the renaming of Pauls Smarter White Milk on ­racial grounds.

Stephen Hagan lodged a complaint with the Australian Human Rights Commission in March, with the case to have its first hearing on Monday. Dr Hagan alleges he was deliberately misrepresented in the articles in an attempt to stir racial passions, and was ­racially vilified as result.

After a successful campaign to have Coon Cheese renamed to Cheer Cheese in 2020, Dr Hagan alleges he was contacted by Daily Mail journalist Stephen Johnson in August and asked whether – in response to comments made by NSW One Nation MP Mark Latham – he next ­intended to push for a name change to the milk brand.

Dr Hagan said that he told Johnson he had no intention to take up the campaign unless there was a “critical mass” of criticism, and requests from the Indigenous community.

Within hours of their conversation on August 3, a story was published with the headline: “EXCLUSIVE: Indigenous activist who forced Coon cheese from the shelves now wants Pauls to consider scrapping ‘Smarter White’ milk brand – because it’s offensive to Aboriginals.”

Dr Hagan believes the article was a deliberate distortion of what he said to fabricate a story based on his race.

A story published the next day by news.com.au (owned by News Corp, publisher of The ­Australian) served to “correct the record” and denied Dr Hagan was engaging in a new name change campaign.

The Daily Mail published several follow-up stories, including one on a Facebook post by One Nation senator Pauline Hanson asking: “What will they cancel next?”

Nine’s morning program, The Today Show, also featured the story in 2020 and posted a poll on Facebook.

Dr Hagan said he asked Nine to remove the online post because of its inaccuracies, but no action was taken. It was eventually taken down in March this year when the complaint was lodged with the AHRC, but only after it had received 132,000 comments, 48,000 reactions, and 19,000 shares.

Some of the comments included: “The bloke should just be shot”; “Get him back to the spinifex plains where there is no government handouts”; and “Typical half cast trouble maker”.

Dr Hagan said he was shocked at the level of racist vitriol displayed in the polls and reported the more serious ones to the Queensland and NSW Police to investigate.

“Queensland Police got back to me saying they spoke to the ­Toowoomba author of a personal threat (which read) ‘How about we get rid of these nut jobs and take the welfare off the scumbags’, and assured me he no longer posed a threat,” he said.

Dr Hagan is seeking $250,000 from each publication and One Nation for the Facebook post, alongside an on-air apology from Today hosts Karl Stefanovic and Allison Langdon, an apology from Senator Hanson on her Facebook page, and a published apology from the Daily Mail.

Barrister Kieran Smark will represent Dr Hagan in his AHRC hearing against the Daily Mail.

Mr Smark won a defamation case for broadcaster Erin Molan against the Daily Mail earlier this year when the publication labelled her racist for her on-air remarks about the pronunciation of the names of Pacific ­Islander NRL players.

Nine declined to comment on the complaint.

The Daily Mail Australia’s executive editor Lachlan Heywood said “it would not be ­appropriate” to speak about the matter before the hearing.