‘Footy Show’ Grub Sam Newman Slammed For “Disgusting” Video Mocking Trans Athletes
"An embarrassment and a fool".
Former Footy Show presenter Sam Newman has been slammed for a “disgusting” video in which he dressed up as a woman and mocked transgender athletes.
Newman, whose career highlights include wearing blackface, comparing a Malaysian man to a monkey, calling members of the gay community “mincing, lisping, parading people” and groping a mannequin with the face of respected football journalist Caroline Wilson, made his latest grubby attempt to stay relevant on Tuesday, posting a video of himself on Twitter wearing makeup, a hat and a scarf and declared that he was transitioning.
“I think I’ve run my race as an older male, and I’m thinking of transitioning,” he told former St Kilda coach Grant Thomas and veteran football journalist Mike Sheahan, with whom Newman hosts a football podcast.
Asked by Sheahan if he was planning on entering the Olympics, Newman replied that he would “clean up on world titles as an older woman”.
“I’m serious,” Newman insisted. “And if anyone thinks I’m not, I’ll sue you.”
Newman has previously come under fire for transphobic remarks, referring to Caitlyn Jenner in 2017 as an “it”.
The video has since been deleted, but has nonetheless been slammed by a number of prominent figures in the AFL world. Transgender footballer Hannah Mouncey, whose attempts to enter the AFLW were repeatedly blocked by league officials, tweeted that Newman was “an embarrassment and a fool”.
Follow through and sue me then @Origsmartassam because I think you’re an embarrassment and a fool. For someone who says he learned something after how he spoke about Caitlyn Jenner on TV, there are no words. Just accept it and don’t try and talk your way out of it this time https://t.co/KNSicSMk17
— Hannah Mouncey 🤾♀️ (@HannahMouncey) March 4, 2019
Meanwhile, Caroline Wilson told Melbourne’s 3AW radio that Newman was “out of touch”.
“Sam Newman was an icon of the game as a player and for some years in the media, but he stopped being an icon a long time ago,” she said. “He is so sadly out of touch, as he has shown so many times when football rules are discussed, when anything to do with [the transgender] community is discussed, when homosexuality is discussed, when racism is discussed.”
Carlton AFLW star Darcy Vescio also weighed in via an Instagram story, calling the video “disgusting and damaging”.