ABC star Michael Hing talking about the racist bombardment he’s received after Stan Grant quit Q&A 

Asian-Australian ABC star Michael Hing has opened up about the torrent of racist abuse he’s copped after Stan Grant threw a spotlight on the issue with his departure from Q+A. 

Grant presented the program on Monday before taking an indefinite break from the media saying he’d ‘had enough’ of the racism hurled at him and hadn’t felt supported by ABC bosses. 

Speaking on Triple J’s Hack on Tuesday, Hing said the very first comment he ever got when he landed a presenting job at the national broadcaster back in 2015 was a nasty comment about his race.

‘They announced it (on social media) and someone immediately wrote ‘this Chinese guy only got it because he’s a diversity hire,’ Hing recalled. 

‘That was the very first comment. Never mind that I was already a comedian, I was reduced to my race,’ he told host Dave Marchese.

Michael Hing has had numerous presenting roles with the ABC including Triple J’s Drive radio show and also appears on Network Ten’s The Project and SBS’s Celebrity Letters and Numbers

Hing, who presents Triple J Drive for the ABC and Celebrity Letters and Numbers on SBS TV, said that since Grant’s exit from the popular current affairs talk show he had gone back through some of the ‘hits’ from his own feed.

‘There’s some wild stuff in there that I’ve received over the years,’ he said.

‘It’s constant if you’re a non-white person in Australia in the public eye, you will get this, and what I get is probably a fraction of what Stan Grant would get.’

He said after criticising Prince Andrew on air last year he received a particularly nasty comment.

‘Prince Andrew is fantastic, just cause no white woman would want your dirty little (racial slur) hands on them, you’re just jealous of him,’ one troll wrote.

‘That’s a publicly viewable comment someone left,’ he said.

He later posted it to his TikTok to prove it was a legitimate comment. 

Mr Hing who works on the ABC and Network Ten's The Project previously said said more support is needed from 'white' ABC bosses

Mr Hing who works on the ABC and Network Ten’s The Project previously said said more support is needed from ‘white’ ABC bosses

‘I would say every three days we get sent pornography involving Asian men and people tagging me – people think that’s acceptable.

‘We don’t talk about it on air because it’s a bummer to talk about, I want to be doing dumb jokes, I don’t want to bring down the audience.

‘We do talkback so we’ll go, I dunno, ‘tell us the biggest meal you’ve ever eaten’ and you turn to the text line and then you see someone texting that I’m a Chinese spy for the communists.’

Hing then said there have also been moments where he’s felt physically in danger.

‘There’s a clip from The Project the other night on Twitter and there are self-proclaimed Nazis in the comments telling me to go back to where I’m from.’

Hing and both his parents were born in Australia.

‘Of course that’s just a small minority of people but you still think when you’re out, is one of those people going to recognise you and do something.’

Stan Grant spectacularly quit Q+A saying he was fed up with racist trolls and said he felt the media was inflaming the issue (pictured, with wife Tracey Holmes)

Stan Grant spectacularly quit Q+A saying he was fed up with racist trolls and said he felt the media was inflaming the issue (pictured, with wife Tracey Holmes)

He added that ignoring the racist comments is also often hard.

‘Should I keep my phone off? Well my friends see it, my family sees it. My parents ask me if I’m ok… my colleagues ask about it as well, some awful racist thing somebody said.

‘One person commented I should grow a backbone. Well I’m showing up to work everyday, I’m not quitting ‘cos I don’t want the racists to win.

‘Is having a backbone not speaking about it? Well, I haven’t for years.

‘You can block them but they find you on other platforms or they even write in letters to the ABC.’

Commenters on the interview were supportive of Hing. 

‘This is awful and disgusting. People like Hingers are the backbone of Aunty,’ ABC Radio National’s Luke Siddham-Dundon said.

‘This was a great interview on Hack. Thrilled for Hingers that he managed to finally get on Hack, but shocked and saddened that he’s putting up with a lot of racist rubbish… Thank you for speaking up,’ another person said.

‘Listening to Hingers… the ABC should do some reflection on the effects of exposing presenters to an unfiltered text line for 15 years,’ radio colleague Matt Bevan wrote.

The ABC was approached for comment.  

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