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10 declines to comment on deleted Project video

It isn't clear if 10 supports Waleed Aly interview after video is pulled without comment.

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Network 10 is declining to comment on a decision to pull a Project interview from its 10Play platform in which Waleed Aly spoke with former Collingwood player Heritier Lumumba.

Lumumba was interviewed by Waleed Aly in 2017 in which he discussed his experiences at Collingwood, alleging club racism including that he was called “chimp” by players.

In the interview Aly asked why other Collingwood players could not verify the name-calling, later prompting Peter Helliar to question why more teammates had not publicly supported Lumumba’s claims.

Lumumba’s complaint led to an independent report which found Collingwood guilty of “systemic racism” which had resulted in “profound and enduring harm” to First Nations and African players. Yesterday Collingwood president Eddie McGuire resigned from the club after 23 years, calling time ahead of schedule after headlines and ferocious social media following a fumbled press conference last week.

But while Helliar has since apologised for his comments and vowing to “do better,” Waleed Aly is yet to address the interview on The Project. Last night the show reported on McGuire falling on his sword, which would have been opportune to address the matter.

Instead the original video has been quietly sunk (it’s already rife through social media).

It’s not a great vote of confidence by management for either The Project or Aly.

Meanwhile The Project trades on having frank conversations with its audience, and it really needs to do that now.

9 Responses

  1. Heritier Lumumba did an interview with Leigh Sales on 7.30 on 2nd Feb. It’s still on IView – scroll forward to the 21 min mark. Very frank and insightful. I was impressed by how articulate Heretier was and as a white person helped me to understand the issue and what he has had to deal with.

    I wonder if Waleed is quietly spewing over it being pulled? Could this be the beginning of the end for this line up on The Project. Oh BTW, Peter Helliar is the main reason I don’t watch The Project – he is not funny.

  2. Watching the video I was surprised that Waleed (a Muslim in the public eye) was gaslighting a person of colour who speaking out about racism – a topic that Waleed has written about and experienced!

    Quietly deleting the video and pretending it didn’t happen is sneaky and in poor taste. (And I’m pretty sure in the past they’ve issued apologies/corrections for less). I really thought the Project had more integrity than that.

  3. I saw nothing wrong with Waleeds interview. That’s his job to ask the questions. I do see a problem with pulling it without explanation. Without explanation The Project loses a huge amount of cred.

  4. This does not surprise me considering channel 10 is owned by ViacomCBS now ,and as stated they have missed an opportunity to speak ,of which I thought was free in this country but perhaps i am mistaken,let’s see what happens tonight.

  5. Slightly off topic, but has anyone else noticed how sympathetic The Project and especially Waleed is becoming to anti-vaxxers? Almost every day they run a story about the concerns about the vaccine. and he is against all vaccine incentives that premiers have proposed. I hear the phrase “yeah but there are people that are not anti-vaxxers, that have their legitimate (unfounded) concerns and they need to be catered to.”

    When they were interviewing Tanya Plibersek Waleed was strongly suggesting that Tanya was in the wrong for confronting Craig Kelly and pretty much said that people on his side of the debate need to be respected and engaged with instead of silenced.

    surely the responsible thing to to is at least balance it out with something positive about the vaccine, let alone encourage people to get it when it is approved.

    2. Craig Kelly is not an anti-vaxxer. Asking for hydroxychloroquine and Ivermectin to be approved as an additional treatment, does not make one an anti-vaxxer.

      1. what is the distinction? Even Donald Trump, the one that started the Hydroxychloroquine conspiracy and misinformation campaign, has distanced himself from it.

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