Former Bachelor star Brooke Blurton has unleashed on a comedian who has made headlines over a viral video in which she imitates an Aboriginal person and sniffs petrol.
Lisa Jane Spencer, a podcaster based in Melbourne, uploaded a 'satire' video where she portrayed several offensive Indigenous stereotypes, such as by wearing a white fur coat, white face paint and referring to herself as 'Aunty Lisa'. At the end of the video, Spencer could be seen inhaling from a jerry can in a reference to petrol sniffing.
Blurton, who is Indigenous and was on both The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, said the video was 'not a joke' and asked her followers to report it and 'cancel' Spencer.
'I am so sick of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people being the brunt of the joke because it's not funny,' she said in a video, tagging Spencer. 'It's not humour. It's a racist stereotype that First Nations people have been facing for generations. How and why it has been used is basically to humiliate, dehumanise and diminish First Nations people. Words matter and content matters. And when someone with a platform chooses to reiterate and spread racial stereotypes, harmful racial stereotypes, it actually contributes to the discrimination that First Nations, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are already facing.'
Professor Heidi Norman, a researcher in Aboriginal political history and a descendant of the Gomeroi people from north-western NSW, has also criticised the video. 'It's not satire if you are ridiculing a whole group of people on the basis of race and native conceptions,' she told the Daily Mail. 'If you really understood the history of the country, you wouldn't be saying that sort of thing. In Australia, there has been, at different times, concerted efforts to raise awareness about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and history.'
Professor Norman said the video was a 'refusal' to understand Australian history. 'Prior to the 1990s, students could say they didn't know Aboriginal history or Australian history. But now there is an incredible flourishing of books, TV stations and films, so there is not a lack of resources. It has to be something more wilful.'
Spencer chose to publish her video during National Reconciliation Week, which runs every year from May 27 to June 3. The dates commemorate two significant milestones in the reconciliation journey: the successful 1967 referendum, and the High Court Mabo decision respectively.
In Spencer's now-viral video, she began with stating: 'I started identifying as a black fella a few months ago.' She was then seen ticking a 'Yes I am' box next to the question 'Am I Aboriginal?' on a fake government form. The video then cut to 'Aunty Lisa' wearing white face paint and mimicking singing while clapping two sticks together. 'I finally feel at peace with who I am. One of the mob,' she said. 'Aboriginal identity transcends skin colour. I am Aboriginal, end of story.'
Since Tuesday, the content creator has faced criticism across Australia but has refused to apologise. In a statement, she defended the video and said 'I love Aboriginal people,' while adding, 'Politicians and activists use Aboriginal suffering too. They parade it out for votes, for funding and for virtue signalling. They hate it when someone points out that maybe not every single Aboriginal person wants to be the eternal victim. Although you're entitled to feel offended, you're also proving my point: you need victimhood. There's nothing stopping you from taking the joke and laughing. And so I apologise to absolutely nobody. Not to the Aboriginals, Indians and anyone else who I have and will continue to make jokes about.'
