While most of us were distracted googling Royal wedding guests and fawning over Meghan Markle’s wedding dress last Sunday, we almost entirely missed the fact Ray Martin dropped the n-word twice during the SBS live coverage of the Royal Wedding.
The five-time Gold Logie winner used the racial slur while talking to co-hosts Myf Warhurst and Joel Creasey about how the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle showed a progressive shift in racial attitudes by the British royal family, especially in light of Prince Phillip’s past racial gaffes. This was when the reporter said the n-word, referring to Prince Phillip’s previous use of the word.
Twitter users were quick to call Martin out for his racial slur, most feeling the historical context did not allow for the use of such a derogatory term. Online commentators also called out the reporter referring to the cellist who performed at Meghan and Harry’s wedding as “black boy”.
The Sydney Morning Herald has reported that the comments were removed from the SBS On Demand recorded version of the Royal Wedding.
SMH went on to share a statement from an SBS spokeswoman saying the discussion about Prince Philip’s use of the word “highlighted the positive cultural changes that have occurred, with the commentary that immediately followed from both presenters indicating that these terms are unacceptable.”
Martin has received no formal complaints about his use of the word and SBS defends the use of the word in its historical context.
Ray Martin’s great, great grandmother was an Indigenous Australian woman and he is a proud advocate for Australian Indigenous rights.
