DJ Gen Fricker claims station is racist and colleagues would make offensive jokes

Radio host who worked at a popular ABC station said her workplace had a shocking culture of ‘racist jokes’ and claims staff ‘mocked foreign accents’ and regularly pretended to be black

  • Gen Fricker claims staff members made racist jokes at her former workplace
  • Ms Fricker worked at the station for five years before retiring in November 2019
  • She said she felt incredibly lonely working as one of two people of colour 
  • The taxpayer-funded radio station is an offshoot of the ABC  

Radio presenter Gen Fricker has unleashed on a former workplace claiming she was forced to endure staff making racist jokes and putting on ‘black’ accents. 

Ms Fricker quit the ABC station last year after spending five years there. 

But following an eruption of Black Lives Matter protests demanding support for Indigenous Australians, Ms Fricker accused her former employer of being ‘part of the problem’. 

In a lengthy Instagram video, she said that as one of just two people of colour at the station, she felt incredibly ‘lonely’. 

‘I’m just going to put this out there. If you work (there) and you’re white, you’re part of the problem,’ she said during the six-minute long video.

Gen Fricker (pictured), has unleashed on the ABC radio station claiming she was forced to endure staff making racist jokes and putting on ‘black’ accents

‘I’ve been so complacent. I got beat down by it and I didn’t say it before.’

Ms Fricker, who has Maori heritage, said she was prompted to come forward after a social media movement went viral which saw people sharing black squares to show their support for racial equality.

‘The difference between being not racist and anti-racist is calling out that s**t,’ she said.

‘But I don’t think you realise how f***ing lonely it was to be one of two brown people in those rooms having to explain why maybe a white woman singing in another language with no black people was a bit f***ing problematic. 

‘Or having to ask white co-workers to stop doing African American accents in the office – “blackcents”.’

Ms Fricker (pictured) accused staff members would put on African American accents and Indian accents as part of jokes. The radio presenter retired from the ABC radio station in November

Ms Fricker (pictured) accused staff members would put on African American accents and Indian accents as part of jokes. The radio presenter retired from the ABC radio station in November 

She said it was ‘f***ing horrible’ to walk into her office and discover a 30-minute-long audio sketch of someone prank calling a co-worker ‘in an Indian accent pretending to be in an Indian call centre’.

The radio presenter said she eventually became ‘exhausted’ after feeling like she had to explain that what was going on was wrong.   

‘You’re the gatekeepers of our culture. You need to stop trading off as a progressive brand because it’s not real.

‘And if you’re an employee and you’re there and you’re wondering if they’ll fire you for saying something, the odds are if you’re white and a presenter, they’re not going to fire you. 

‘It would be nice just to not feel so f***ing lonely.’

Ms Fricker’s comments come after a Black Lives Matter protest due to be held in Sydney was controversially cancelled just hours before it was due to go ahead.

Around 10,000 protesters were due to attend the rally in Sydney on Saturday afternoon before the Supreme Court ruling it would breach COVID-19 social distancing rules.

Thousands have vowed they would still attend.

Protests and riots have broken out across the world following the death of unarmed African American George Floyd.

Mr Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, died in custody of the Minneapolis Police Department on May 25 after an officer knelt on his neck for eight minutes while making an arrest. 

Daily Mail Australia has contacted the station for comment. 

Fricker's comments come after a Black Lives Matter protest due to be held in Sydney was controversially cancelled just hours before it was due to go ahead (pictured on Friday)

Fricker’s comments come after a Black Lives Matter protest due to be held in Sydney was controversially cancelled just hours before it was due to go ahead (pictured on Friday)

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk