ABC Asian-Australian star Michael Hing has spoken out openly about the spate of racial abuse he has faced after Stan Grant brought the issue into the limelight with his departure from Q+A.
Grant hosted the program on Monday before taking an indefinite hiatus from the media, saying he was “fed up” with the racism hurled at him and felt unsupported by ABC bosses.
Speaking on Triple J’s Hack on Tuesday, Hing said the very first comment he ever got when he got a job as a presenter at the national broadcaster in 2015 was a nasty comment about his race.
“They announced it (on social media) and someone immediately wrote ‘this Chinese just got it because he’s a diversity worker,’ Hing recalls.
That was the very first comment. Never mind that I was already a comedian, I was reduced to my race,” he told presenter Dave Marchese.
Michael Hing has had numerous presenting roles on the ABC including Triple J’s Drive radio show and also appears on Network Ten’s The Project and SBS’s Celebrity Letters and Numbers
Hing, who presents Triple J Drive for ABC and Celebrity Letters and Numbers on SBS TV, said he’d been revisiting a number of “hits” from his own feed since Grant’s departure from the popular current affairs talk show.
“There’s some wild stuff in there that I’ve received over the years,” he said.
“It’s constant that if you’re a non-white person in Australia in the public eye, you’re getting this, and what I’m getting is probably a fraction of what Stan Grant would get.”
He said that after criticizing Prince Andrew on air last year, he received a particularly nasty remark.
“Prince Andrew is fabulous just because no white woman would want your dirty little (racial) hands on her, you’re just jealous of him,” one troll wrote.
“That’s a publicly visible comment someone left,” he said.
He later posted it on his TikTok to prove it was a legit comment.
Mr Hing, who works on ABC and Network Ten’s The Project, previously said more support is needed from ‘white’ ABC bosses
“I would say every three days we get porn on Asian men and people tagging me — people think that’s acceptable.
“We don’t talk about it on air because it’s a shame to talk about it, I want to make stupid jokes, I don’t want to bring the audience down.
“We talk back so we go, I don’t know, ‘tell us the biggest meal you’ve ever eaten’ and you go to the text line and then you see someone text me that I’m a Chinese spy for the communists.” ‘
Hing then said that there were also times when he felt physically in danger.
“There was a clip of The Project on Twitter the other day and there are self-proclaimed Nazis in the comments telling me to go back to where I came from.”
Hing and both his parents were born in Australia.
“Of course that’s only a small minority of people, but you still think that when you’re gone, one of those people will recognize you and do something.”
Stan Grant spectacularly quit Q+A saying he was fed up with racist trolls and said he felt the media was fueling the issue (pictured, with wife Tracey Holmes)
He added that ignoring the racist remarks is also often difficult.
‘Should I turn off my phone? Well, my friends see it, my family sees it. My parents ask me if I’m ok…my colleagues ask about it too, someone said something horribly racist.
“One person commented that I needed to grow a spine. Well, I come to work every day, I don’t quit because I don’t want the racists to win.
“Isn’t having a backbone talking about it?” Well, I haven’t for years.
“You can block them, but they will find you on other platforms or even write letters to the ABC.”
Commentators on the interview supported Hing.
“This is terrible and disgusting. People like Hingers are the backbone of Aunty,” said ABC Radio National’s Luke Siddham-Dundon.
“This was a great interview on Hack. Happy for Hingers that he finally managed to get on Hack, but shocked and saddened that he tolerates a lot of racist nonsense… Thanks for speaking up,” another person said.
“Listening to Hingers…the ABC should think about the effects of exposing presenters to an unfiltered line of text for 15 years,” wrote radio colleague Matt Bevan.
The ABC was approached for comment.