An ABC investigation has found the broadcaster was right to pull from iView the controversial Q&A that featured a panel of hardcore feminists advocating the killing of male rapists.
The broadcaster pulled the controversial episode from all of digital platforms after it sparked outrage when it aired on November 4.
ABC bosses received 235 complaints after Egyptian-American writer Mona Eltahawy said women should kill rapists – a call that was supported on the show by ex-ABC journalist Jess Hill.
Following an internal review into the all-female panel episode, the ABC found it took took ‘sufficient action’ to resolve the complaints.
‘ABC management’s decision to remove the episode from iView and cancel planned repeat broadcast to resolve those complaints,’ a spokesperson said.
‘This matter is now closed.’
In response to the review, Ms Eltahawy told The Sydney Morning Herald the fact ABC did not stand by their broadcast was ‘unbelievable’ and showed they were on the side of the ‘fragile sensibilities of white men’.
‘It is a reminder that imaginary violence against men upsets and disturbs more than actual violence against women.’
Daily Mail Australia has contacted the ABC for comment.
The controversy erupted last month when a member of the audience asked if aggression and violence were the best ways for feminists to achieve equality.
The ABC has concluded its investigation into itself after hardline feminist panellists including Egyptian-American writer Mona Eltahawy (pictured) on a Q&A program last month encouraged the killing of rapists
Ms Eltahawy replied by endorsing violence and saying that women should kill rapists.
She said: ‘I want patriarchy to fear feminism… how long must we wait for men and boys to stop murdering us, to stop beating us and to stop raping us? How many rapists must we kill until men stop raping us?’
Host Fran Kelly then referenced a tweet by Spectator Australia which asked: ‘Why is the ABC justifying violence?’
ABC bosses received 235 complaints after Egyptian-American writer Mona Eltahawy said women should kill rapists – who was then backed up on the show by ex-ABC journalist Jess Hill (pictured left to right: American anti-ageism campaigner Ashton Applewhite, Egyptian-American writer Ms Eltahawy, businesswoman Hana Assafiri, host Fran Kelly, Indigenous writer and activist Nayuka Gorrie, journalist and author Jess Hill)
She said: ‘So Mona… Spectator Australia is already saying Mona’s promoting violence. Is that what you’re doing?’
Ms Eltawahy replied: ‘What I’m doing is saying that that violence has been owned by the state… exactly how long do I have to wait to be safe?’
The person who asked the question challenged the panel by suggesting that violence was not the best approach, saying: ‘Bullying begets bullying and violence begets violence’.
Ms Hill then chimed in to support Ms Eltawahy’s argument that violence is necessary.
‘If anyone’s shocked by what Mona’s suggesting, you just have to look back to history, and a certain faction of the suffragettes… they used violence,’ she said. ‘They thought what they were fighting was a civil war between the sexes.’
Indigenous writer and activist Nayuka Gorrie also appeared to advocate violence, saying: ‘When you say violence begets violence, it’s almost sounding like it’s a level playing field which it’s not.’
‘It’s absolutely not… I wonder what our kind of tipping point in Australia’s going to be when people will start burning stuff? I look forward to it.’
Commenting on Australia’s colonial history, she added: ‘We’ve tried for 230-plus years to appeal to the colonisers’ morality, which just doesn’t seem to exist.
‘I think violence is OK because if someone is trying to kill you, there’s no amount of, “But I’m really clever. I’m really articulate”. No amount of that is going to save you. Let’s burn stuff.’
The comments immediately sparked fury on social media as hundreds of viewers were left shocked by such brazen support for violence.
Outspoken Egyptian-American writer Mona Eltahawy (pictured) dominated the show
One viewer wrote: ‘Violence is never an option and if the ABC insists on pushing violent rhetoric, I will have to insist Scott Morrison pulls funding from the ABC and rescind’s their broadcasting licence.’
Another added: ‘The ABC is promoting violence? It wouldn’t be first time.’
In another shocking section of the show, Ms Eltawahy called the Prime Minister a white supremacist.
‘Your Prime Minister here is a mini version of Donald Trump – because we’re talking about white supremacists capitalists,’ she said.
‘Your Prime Minister is a white evangelical Christian like Mike Pence in the US so you’re on a parallel path here.’
Dead in a police cell: The tragedy of Tanya Day
Tanya Day, 55, was arrested by police for being drunk on a train heading to Melbourne.
Police took her into custody after they found her sleeping with her feet on a seat and when she was asked for a ticket, she responded in a confused manner.
The CCTV footage from a cell at Castlemaine Police Station on December 5, 2017, showed Ms Day smashed her forehead against a wall at 4.51pm and appeared to lose movement in her right arm.
The fall resulted in a brain haemorrhage and Ms Day died 17 days later in a Melbourne hospital.
Her family urged everyone to watch it so they can understand their mother’s suffering and the alleged negligence due to racism by police and paramedics.
Tanya Day, 55, was arrested by Victorian police for being drunk on a train heading to Melbourne
Ms Eltawahy then attacked the government over Mr Morrison’s proposal to outlaw environmental boycott campaigns.
‘When you start talking about banning boycotts, you have to ask what is happening to your so-called democracy,’ she said.
Another controversial moment came when the panel discussed Tanya Day, an aboriginal woman who was arrested for being drunk in public and died in a police cell in 2017.
Responding to a question about how institutions can be better held to account for racism, Ms Gorrie said the police service should be shut down.
‘Its very formation was to serve the interest of white sovereignty in this country,’ she said.
‘When we’re talking about accountability, I’m not sure how far we can go in keeping an organisation like the police to account because it is there to be violent’.
‘It’s patriarchal, it’s overwhelmingly white. I think it shouldn’t exist.’