The yolk’s on Anning

American comedian John Oliver has picked up on the fuss created by an egg and Fraser Anning.

A protester is firmly in the corner of “Egg Boy” during during the Stand Against Racism and Islamophobia: Fraser Anning Resign! rally in Melbourne yesterday. Picture: Getty Images

Is the lad who used a goog to express displeasure with senator Fraser Anning a good or a bad egg? Debate has spread as far as the US, where late-night host John Oliver went in to bat for the boy. Keen comedy watchers will know this isn’t the first time Oliver has cast an incredulous eye over Australian politics. He lampooned Tony Abbott for his onion eating and he was all over Barnaby Joyce for being all family values while having a baby with his mistress.

WARNING: LANGUAGE

Oliver showed his Last Week Tonight viewers the clip of Anning getting egged by a surfer-looking dude in the wake of the Christchurch mosque attack. Oliver explained Anning had put out a statement blaming not the shooter but immigration for the 50 deaths. “The real cause of bloodshed on New Zealand streets today is the immigration program which allowed Muslim fanatics to migrate to New Zealand in the first place. Muslims may have been the victims today, usually they are the perpetrators,” Anning said.

WATCH: This is the moment Senator Fraser Anning was egged by a teenage boy during a press conference in Melbourne. #9News pic.twitter.com/oePwz3pPH2

— Nine News Melbourne (@9NewsMelb) March 16, 2019

“Holy shit. That might be the worst possible response to what happened,” Oliver replied. He then posed his own question: if the wholesale slaughter of Muslims in prayer can be blamed on immigration, what caused Anning to get hit by an egg? “The real cause of Fraser Anning getting hit with an egg is Fraser Anning saying things that prompt people to throw eggs at him,” Oliver said.

Fraser Anning lashes out after being egged by 17-year-old William “Egg Boy” Connolly.

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Democracy at work

Much has been made of Anning’s 19-vote somersault into the Senate (how did he get so many?) Did you know it wasn’t the lowest primary result in 2016? That honour goes to Craig Gunnis, of the Palmer United Party, who got 18 (one presumably was his own, and 17 others were impressed by those hammy Clive Palmer ads.)

What’s your point, Clive? Oh ... Craig Gunnis. Got it. Photo: Annette Dew

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Peppa’s porky

So who’s a sexist little pig then?

Surely not Peppa? Apparently so, at least according to the London Fire Brigade, which strenuously objected to a recent episode in which firefighters were called firemen. ‘‘Come on @peppapig, we’ve not been firemen for 30 years,’’ says the brigade. They’re firefighters, don’t you know, but hang on, wasn’t Peppa once accused of the exact opposite? Yes! The Daily Telegraph’s Piers Akerman a few years back accused Peppa of pushing “a weird feminist line” because the girl pig gets all the good gigs, while her dad is a bit of a dumbo.

Come on @peppapig, we’ve not been firemen for 30 years. You have a huge influence on kids & using out of date stereotypical gender specific wording prevents young girls from becoming firefighters. Join our #Firefightingsexism campaign https://t.co/IRjLtqolEl

— London Fire Brigade (@LondonFire) March 17, 2019

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Pigeon pie-eyed

Yesterday we were all expensive tennis courts, today we’re all expensive pigeons, with a Belgian racing bird selling at auction for a smidgeon under $2 million. If you think that’s a lot for what the Europeans call rats of the air, you’d be right. The price, paid by a Chinese racing pigeon obsessive, broke the previous record by $1.4m, and what does our fancier get? A bird called Armando near retirement, apparently. Vendor Joel Verschoot was obviously delighted, saying he had earned more from this one sale than in 40 years working at his previous job in an abattoir. The sport is ruthless: two professional pigeon racers in China went to jail last year for cheating in a 750km race. How do you cheat in pigeon race? You put the birds on a bullet train.

We’re not sure if the $2 million racing pigeon can also play football, but at that price, it should. Picture: AP

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Brotherly love

Brother, this is heavy. The National Enquirer earlier this year broke a story about the world’s richest man, Jeff Bezos, having an affair with Lauren Sanchez. They proved it with text messages from her phone: I love you, and here’s me nude, and all that. How did they get those text messages? The Wall Street Journal says they got them from her brother, Michael, who got paid $200,000. Her brother! Like I said, heavy.

Jeff Bezos. Oh, brother.

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An udder disgrace

Still in the US, Republican congressman Devin Nunes announced yesterday that he would be suing Twitter for more than $250 million, alleging “defamation, insulting words and civil conspiracy”. Nunes, in his suit, accuses Twitter of having a “political agenda” by allowing two parody accounts: one purports to be his mum and another purports to be his cow. As moves go, it’s udderly unhinged: all it has done is alert the world’s comedians to the cow account, and you can imagine what they’re doing with it. Yep they’re milking it. Moo.

”DIANE NUNES IS A SAINT!”.

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Big-time Bogut

In sports news, ancient multi-millionaire Andrew Bogut — he’s 34 and rich like dreams — made an immediate impact on returning to the NBA yesterday, scoring seven points in less than 10 minutes of court time. Also seven rebounds and an assist. And this after flying to California from Sydney on Friday, not expecting to play, then being told at the last minute to get on down to San Antonio because the Golden State Warriors were a player short. He laughed at them. They were serious.

Andrew Bogut (no.12) makes a big return for the Golden State Warriors yesterday. Picture: AP

www.carolineoverington.com