Lidia Thorpe’s sidekick during the rogue senator’s foul-mouthed, late-night tirade outside a Melbourne strip club has broken her silence.
Victoria NAIDOC chair Stacie Piper was on a night out with the former Greens senator to celebrate their friend Shelley Johnson’s 50th birthday at Maxine’s Gentleman’s Club in Brunswick on Saturday night.
But the party ended in uproar at 3am on Sunday when Senator Thorpe unleashed abuse at a crowd of men standing in the street outside as they got into a taxi.
She yelled at one, ‘You’ve got a small penis’, and marched up to another saying ‘you’re marked’ in a menacing tone while pointing in his face.
Footage of the spray went viral and Senator Thorpe was later banned for life from the strip club by outraged manager David Ross.
Now Ms Piper has revealed that she has been traumatised by the furore surrounding the incident and insisted reports about it have been ‘harsh and untrue’.
Victoria NAIDOC chair Stacie Piper (pictured second left) was with former Greens senator Lidia Thorpe (centre) to celebrate friend Shelley Johnson’s 50th birthday at Maxine’s Gentleman’s Club in Brunswick
Stacie Piper (right) has admitted she has been traumatised by the fallout from the incident and insisted reports about it have been ‘harsh and untrue’
She told Daily Mail Australia: ‘This is a very difficult time for myself and my family given the harsh and untrue stories being published.’
She said she was unable to comment further but added: ‘Hopefully there will be a safe space at some stage.
‘I hope no further people will be brought in to this awful situation.’
The allegedly unprovoked verbal assault came after Senator Thorpe had reportedly berated others inside the club for being on Aboriginal land.
Outside, one of the men snapped back at the senator’s attack, called her a racist dog and questioned how she had got into Parliament.
During the senator’s onslaught, she told the stunned crowd of bystanders to ‘get f***ed’.
‘All I want to say to the black brothers there and anyone that we’re fighting, any black man that stands with the f***ing white little c***s like that – youse can all get f***ed too,’ Senator Thorpe said.
Now an Indigenous former supporter of Senator Thorpe has admitted the maverick politician has gone too far, revealing her disappointment in a TikTok video which has since gone viral and been viewed tens of thousands of times.
‘I was very disappointed because we just cannot behave this way,’ said the social media video blogger who goes by the name Eleven.
‘If this was a white politician screaming, “You black Cs’, you can guarantee she’d be right there saying, “Get out of politics”.
‘You know that’s there’s no place for it. There is no place for it. That behaviour is not okay.’
She said Senator Thorpe should have known better than to respond in the way she did.
An Indigenous former supporter of Ms Thorpe says the senator has gone too far in a TikTok video which has since gone viral and been viewed tens of thousands of times
‘Regardless of the people that are coming at you, there are better ways of managing conflict,’ she said. ‘You can walk away. You can report it.
‘You can do a number of things. But for me, you show more character and strength by walking away, by not engaging with people like that.
‘They don’t deserve your time. It’s just making her look really reckless.’
She added: ‘It’s disappointing to see, to be totally honest. This is not hate towards Lydia. I have supported Lydia in a lot of different ways.
‘Seeing an Aboriginal woman in politics is not only very exciting for me, but also it’s just really inspiring.
‘[But] you’re the representative for your constituents, you really should not be behaving this way in public. You really shouldn’t.
‘If I went out and acted like this, my workplace, if they got wind of it, would probably fire me.’
Senator Thorpe was also blasted by her own father Roy Illingworth (pictured) who branded her racist in an interview on Sky News
Senator Thorpe has also been blasted by her own father who branded her ‘racist’ in an interview on Sky News.
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‘The way I see it, the way she is and the way she’s changed over the years, she’s a very racist person,’ Roy Illingworth told Andrew Bolt on Thursday night.
‘She doesn’t acknowledge any of her white side. I’m a bit disappointed in the way she’s been carrying on lately.
‘Maybe she’s being used by someone, or some people. But normally she used to never be like that. Maybe it’s the power gone to her head too. I’m not sure.’
Senator Thorpe was also slammed on Wednesday by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who advised her to get help for her ‘health issues’.
‘I think that level of behaviour is quite clearly unacceptable,’ he said.
‘These are not the actions of anyone who should be participating in society in a normal way, let alone a senator.
‘Lidia needs to be very conscious of the way in which this behaviour has been seen.’
On Thursday though, Senator Thorpe – who quit the Greens in February over the party’s support for the Indigenous Voice to Parliament, which she opposes – hit back.
She insisted racial harassment had triggered her outburst early Sunday morning and stressed that no was injured in the confrontation.
‘On Saturday night I was provoked and stood up for myself,’ she said in a lengthy statement. ‘No one was hurt.
‘The story should be about the racists brazenly harassing a senator. The story is that I can’t go out without being harassed by racists.
Senator Lidia Thorpe insisted she had been racially harassed which had triggered her outburst and stressed that no was injured in the confrontation, pictured
‘This is the racism Blak people deal with everyday in this colony.’
The ‘Blak sovereign’ movement activist also attacked critics who suggested she needed therapy.
‘Saying I need “mental help” is a continuation of the old racist and misogynistic narrative used to discredit and silence outspoken and strong women, particularly Blak women,’ she said.
‘I am disappointed by the opportunism of politicians in Canberra – including the PM – using this to drag me down.
‘But more than that, I am heartened and inspired by the hundreds of messages of support I’ve received from every comer of the country.’
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Senator Thorpe seeking comment.
