Aboriginal hip hop artist explains his controversial lyric ‘I hate the Anzacs’ and slams the ABC

An Aboriginal hip hop artist has claimed the ABC ‘censored’ him by refusing let him to perform a song that contained the lyric ‘I hate the Anzacs’.

Sydney-based musician Ziggy Ramo said the national broadcaster declined his request to play ‘April 25th’ during Monday night’s episode of Q&A.

Ramo claimed the ABC had used him as a ‘diversity checkbox’ and only had him on the show because he is Indigenous.

‘The song I initially was going to perform was called April 25th and this is a song that I was not allowed to perform,’ the 25-year-old told the panel. 

‘I was basically censored in the fact that the ABC said that it was not appropriate.

‘Me sitting on this panel ticks off a box for the ABC that’s cultural diversity, but if I’m not able to express my perspective, is it performative or is it actual culture diversity?’ 

Host Hamish Macdonald explained to the panel that the song contained the lyrics ‘I hate the Anzacs’. 

Former Nationals Leader Barnaby Joyce interjected and said he would ‘never defend the ABC’ but you ‘have to be careful what you say because you can insult people’.

Ramo explained the meaning behind the lyric at length.  

Sydney-based musician Ziggy Ramo claimed he was ‘censored’ from performing his song April 25th on QandA on Monday because it contained the lyric ‘I hate the Anzacs’

He released the album, Black Thoughts (pictured), on June 5 despite recording the entire thing five years ago 

Ramo said that he does not want people to think he doesn’t celebrate the Anzacs, but has travelled the world to celebrate what they did for Australia. 

Viewers flooded to social media to praise the musician for his ‘powerful’ views on the show, with many agreeing there needs to be more cultural diversity in organisations.

‘What an amazing young man. How articulate, accurate and passionate. Let Ziggy have the floor for the rest of the night,’ one user wrote on Twitter. 

Ramo said that he does not want people to think he doesn’t celebrate the Anzacs, but has travelled the world to celebrate what they did for Australia

Ramo pictured left during a rally for Black Lives Matter in Sydney after the death of George Floyd

‘Ziggy is absolutely not pulling punches tonight. Powerful bringing it up so openly,’ another woman wrote.

‘I don’t know who Ziggy is, but geez that was powerful. Onya man,’ one man Tweeted.

‘Ziggy Ramo is letting some truth bombs off on QandA tonight. It might not want to be what you want to hear, but it’s no less truthful because of that,’ another said. 

He released the album, Black Thoughts, on June 5 despite recording the entire thing five years ago.

Viewers flooded to social media to praise the musician for his ‘powerful’ views on the show, with many agreeing there needs to be more cultural diversity in organisations

The album addresses colonial dispossession, systemic racism and intergenerational trauma but Ramo chose not to release it because he was worried it would not sit well with non-Indigenous Australians.

But after George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis on May 25 sparked a global Black Lives Matter protest against police brutality, Ramo released the album. 

He explained the circumstances surrounding the album in an Instagram post on its release:  

‘I wrote this album 5 years ago while I was hospitalized,’ he wrote.

‘I was in a dark space and on suicide watch. It was my obituary. I wanted to document my thoughts so that our stories could be heard after I was gone.

‘I never put it out because I knew as a country we weren’t ready to listen. I wish it was dated. I wish there was no need for it.’