Stan Grant will ‘walk away from the ABC’ after he was racially abused for using live coverage of King Charles’ Coronation to focus on Aboriginal dispossession.
He is now taking leave as Q+A host just 10 months after taking on the role, with the Monday night program losing its second full-time presenter in just two years following the departure of Hamish Macdonald in July 2021.
The ABC reportedly received more than 1,000 complaints for its ‘disrespectful’ May 6 Coronation coverage, which linked the British monarchy with the dispossession of Aboriginal people since 1788.
Grant, who is presenting his late Q+A show on Monday before taking stress leave, said he had been subjected to ‘relentless racial filth’ with viewers targeting him because he is Indigenous.
Some of the social media abuse was been reported to police.
‘The ABC has this year lodged an official complaint with Twitter about the relentless racial filth I am subjected to,’ he said.
‘I am not beyond criticism. I occupy a privileged and prominent place in the media — I should be critiqued. And I am not thin skinned. Aboriginal people learn to tough it out. That’s the price of survival.’
The personal and bigoted nature of some criticism has prompted the 59-year-old broadcaster to go on indefinite leave, which could see Insiders host David Speers or ABC Radio Melbourne presenter Virginia Trioli fill in again until Grant returns.
‘For years I’ve been a media target for racism and paid a heavy price. For now, I want no part of it – I’m walking away,’ he said.
‘For how long? I don’t know. I don’t take time out because of racism — I won’t give racists the satisfaction.
‘I don’t take time out because I believe the ABC was wrong to discuss the legacy of colonisation and empire on the day of the Coronation.
‘We did that, I believe, with maturity and respect.’
Grant also called out the top bosses at the ABC – prompting the national broadcaster’s head of news Justin Stevens to issue a statement on Friday afternoon.
‘No one at the ABC — whose producers invited me onto their coronation coverage as a guest — has uttered one word of public support,’ he said.
‘Not one ABC executive has publicly refuted the lies written or spoken about me.
‘I don’t hold any individual responsible; this is an institutional failure.’
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ABC host Stan Grant has decided to ‘walk away from the ABC’ after he copped criticism for his coverage of King Charles’ coronation
But Grant said he valued the friendship of Mr Stevens.
‘He has been a support and a comfort. He is trying to change an organisation that has its own legacy of racism. But he knows I am disappointed. I am dispirited,’ he said.
Stevens released a statement on Friday afternoon acknowledging Grant had ‘been subject to grotesque racist abuse, including threats to his safety’ following the coronation coverage.
‘This has become particularly virulent since he appeared as part of the ABC’s Coronation coverage,’ he said.
‘It is abhorrent and unacceptable.
‘Stan is one of Australia’s best and most respected journalists and broadcasters.
‘The ABC stands by him and condemns the attacks directed towards him.
‘The ABC has and will continue to refer any threats to police.’
The ABC reportedly received more than 1,000 complaints for its ‘disrespectful’ May 6 Coronation coverage, which linked the British monarchy with the dispossession of Aboriginal people since 1788 (pictured is King Charles III with Queen Camilla)
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Grant in January 1992, at age 28, became the first Indigenous host of a prime time TV show as the frontman of Seven’s Real Life current affairs show, which in 1993 briefly out rated Mike Willesee’s A Current Affair on Nine
Grant in January 1992, at age 28, became the first Indigenous host of a commercial prime time TV show as the frontman of Seven’s Real Life current affairs show, which in 1993 briefly out rated Mike Willesee’s A Current Affair on Nine.
He later hosted Today Tonight on the same network and was a Europe correspondent for Seven before moving to Hong Kong to present for CNN.
Despite his successful career, he suggested the media industry had let him down, citing the pile-on of criticism against him arising from his commentary on King Charles’ Coronation – the first for the royal family since the late Queen in 1953.
‘Sadly, it seems there is no place in the media for love, kindness, goodness or God,’ he said.
‘There is no place in the media for respect,’ Grant said.
With the ABC often accused of left-wing bias, Grant said he didn’t intend to offend those who supported keeping Australia’s constitutional ties with Great Britain.
‘I am sorry that some monarchists were offended at our coverage,’ he said.
‘That was never my intent. I thought I used words of love.
‘Clearly, I failed. I have to accept I am part of the problem. I am part of the media that fails the Australian people every day.’
Pictured, Stan Grant with partner Tracey Holmes
Grant, who opens each Q+A live broadcast with an acknowledgement to country in his native Wiradjuri language, said he didn’t want the racists to win.
‘I don’t take time out because of racism — I won’t give racists the satisfaction,’ he said.
‘I don’t take time out because I believe the ABC was wrong to discuss the legacy of colonisation and empire on the day of the coronation. We did that, I believe, with maturity and respect.’
He argued the Australian media was often to ‘fragile’ to discuss the horrors of Aboriginal oppression, from the dispossession of land to the stolen generations being taken from their parents until the late 20th century.
‘I take time out because we have shown again that our history — our hard truth — is too big, too fragile, too precious for the media,’ he said.
Grant’s temporary departure from the ABC is the biggest drama in his career since 2000, when a month before the Sydney Olympics, he resigned as the host of Today Tonight after leaving his former wife Karla, an Indigenous SBS presenter, for Seven Network sports commentator colleague Tracey Holmes
A referendum on amending the Construction to add an Indigenous Voice to Parliament is being held later this year, but Grant accused the media of focusing on partisan divides.
‘The media sees only battle lines, not bridges. It sees only politics,’ he said.
‘I want no part of it. I want to find a place of grace far from the stench of the media.
‘I want to go where I am not reminded of the social media sewer.’
Grant, who has presented television programs on Seven, the ABC and SBS, has now suggested his career may have been all for nothing.
‘My parents have been proud of the career I have built. I owe anything I have done to them. I have tried to represent my people and do some good in the world,’ he said.
‘I don’t know now if it has amounted to anything. I thought I had come a long way from that scared, little Aboriginal boy in the school photo. Now I wonder if I have travelled very far at all.’
Q+A returned to its old Monday night time slot this year after ratings in the five mainland state capitals fell to just 165,000.
Grant’s temporary departure from the ABC is the biggest drama in his career since 2000 when – a month before the Sydney Olympics – he resigned as the host of Today Tonight after leaving his former wife Karla, an Indigenous SBS presenter, for Seven Network sports commentator colleague Tracey Holmes.
