Stan Grant says ABC coronation ‘evil abuse’ ‘would not have happened to a white person’

Stan Grant’s “evil, mean, hateful” abuse after appearing on an ABC TV panel criticizing the monarchy during the coronation of King Charles III “would not have happened” if he were white, he claims.

The Indigenous ABC star appeared at the Sydney Writer’s Festival on Friday afternoon, where he gave a scathing assessment of the Australian media landscape, after stepping down from Q+A indefinitely on Monday.

Grant last week described tackling brutal racial abuse after joining a panel discussion ahead of the coronation, and berated ABC bosses for showing him “no” support.

Now he’s opened up about the weeks before he pulled the plug on Q+A and the impact the abuse had on himself and his family.

Grant said during the May 6 panel discussion, “no one was shouting over anyone, no one was insulting anyone,” and that it had been a healthy, respectful, and constructive debate about the history of the monarchy.

“If a white person had been on the air … if they had talked about invading the country, they just wouldn’t have been offended like I was,” he said.

“It wasn’t just what I said, it was the fact that I said (it). The racist abuse and attacks started before I even said a word.”

That revelation was met in the sold-out crowd.

“To be told day after day that it was a hateful hour of television, that it was horrible, that I hated Australians… to see people depict me that way was such a cultural violation.”

Grant revealed that he and his family were bombarded with “the most vicious, vile, hateful abuse,” culminating in death threats.

On Wednesday night, police arrested a 41-year-old man in Fairfield Heights, western Sydney, charging him with using a coach service to make threats against Grant.

Grant said, “My children have earned nothing from what happened to me and them.”

Grant revealed that his youngest son, Jesse, wrote a heartfelt letter to his father in the days after announcing his decision to retire from the media.

The note was left on Grant’s bed for him to find.

It read in part, “Dear Dad, from the moment I was born I have looked to you for strength and purpose, you have been like a superhero to me.

“You fought every day for yourself, for us and for this country. It pains me to see how the world and even we have abused your power at times.

“You won’t have to fight much longer. I will start fighting. I will start giving more and let you finally find peace.

“Thanks for showing me how to be a man of purpose.”

Grant himself fought back tears and tried to keep his composure as he read his son’s heartfelt letter.

There were no such scruples in the crowd. Handkerchiefs were passed from one guest to another as scores of people bowed their heads and wiped away their tears.

On his last night on Q+A, Grant apologized to his haters listening in at home. He said, “To those who have abused me and my family, I would like to say, if your goal was to hurt me, then you succeeded.

‘And I’m sorry. I’m sorry I must have given you so much reason to hate me so much, attack me and my family, make threats against me.”

On Friday, Grant doubled down on his decision to apologize to the people who hurt him so much, explaining what prompted that decision.

He said the hate, trolling and abuse were symptoms of a wider problem with humanity, one he feels “compliant” with.

“I know I’m complicit by working in the media… I’m sorry to be part of a media that has totally failed,” he said.

“We cannot be solely responsible for ourselves. We are also responsible for the worst that others do, because we have created a world where that is possible.’

Grant said he would continue to fight hate with love and trust in “God’s great plan.” He spoke at length about his faith, his relationship with religion, and how the Christian message of forgiveness “remains with him forever.”

The media personality was a guest at the festival to promote his new book, The Queen Is Dead, which grapples with the monarchy and the institution and its relationship with it.

But, he insisted, his challenging relationship is not with the late Queen herself as wife, mother or grandmother.

“I’ve met the queen,” he said. “When she died, something in me snapped open. Not her as an individual, but what that crown represented.

“That we should mourn the crown more than our own people; the most unloved people in the land.’

He encouraged the crowd to be angry about the mistreatment of First Nations peoples.

‘If you are not angry,’ he said, ‘then you have no soul.’

There were whispers among the crowd, which had hung on their every word for nearly an hour.

A woman looked at the woman to her right. “He’s such an intellectual,” she said. “He has the ability to break down the most complex topics in a way that everyone understands.”

The woman to her right, a stranger she’d hooked up with because of their shared admiration for Grant, nodded.

‘He’s a gem. A shining light for this country. I’m ashamed of the way we treated him.’

As Grant entered the room, another woman exclaimed “we love you Stan” over the deafening applause. He nodded kindly and thanked her.

Grant said during his speech, “There is no such thing as race.

‘There are nations. I belong largely to First Nations peoples. My grandmother was white, but she lived with us, she had Aboriginal children, she was rejected by white society.

‘Whiteness is the way of ordering and separating, but they are not white people. [My people] never talked about race, we talk about nations.’

Grant asked, “What have we done to be the most impoverished and imprisoned people in this country?” What have we done to be left out of the best? To die 10 years younger than everyone else?’

He finished the panel with another short reading from his book, then looked up at the crowd to realize he’d received a standing ovation.

There were more tears, more tissues, more questions about how he felt “so isolated,” and whether his employer could have done more.

When announcing his hiatus, the 59-year-old accused the ABC of “institutional failure” and claimed no one in senior management had offered him public support.

Grant said racist abuse against him had increased since he appeared on ABC’s coverage of King Charles’ coronation on May 6.

More than 1,800 complaints were made during a segment that ran from 5:15 to 6:00 p.m. in which a panel, including Grant, discussed “critical perspectives on the role of the monarchy in modern Australia” as early guests arrived at Westminster Abbey.

The ABC ombudsman found the national broadcaster’s coverage of the coronation of King Charles III “shocking and distracting.”

However, it did not violate editorial standards around impartiality, the ombudsman said in a finding released Thursday.

Grant also said he walked out not because of racism or hatred on social media, but because of a wider disenchantment with the media.

“I need a break from the media. I feel like I’m part of the problem. And I have to wonder how and if we can do better.’

Grant ended his last evening at Q+A by thanking his family, speaking a few words in his native Wiradjuri and then simply saying “good night.”