‘This is bang out of order’: Actress and activist Magda Szubanksi is slammed for comparing the Australian bushfire crisis to GALLIPOLI and World War I
- Magda Szubanksi said Australian bushfire crisis was ‘OUR Gallipoli’, in a tweet
- Many took offense to the comparison, calling it inappropriate
Magda Szubanksi has been slammed on social media for comparing Australia’s bushfire crisis to Gallipoli in WWI.
The Kath & Kim actress made the controversial analogy after tweeting out urging followers to take part in rebuilding efforts amid the disaster.
‘Ok. #AustraliaFire, #AustraliaisBurning is huge in every way. This will define us [as] a nation, a people and as individuals. THIS is OUR Gallipoli. What we do next matters,’ she said on Thursday.
The tweet was quickly flooded with responses criticising her ‘inappropriate’ comparison to the WWI battle where thousands of people were killed in the line of duty.
Magda Szubanksi said the Australian bushfire crisis was ‘OUR Gallipoli’, in a tweet on Thursday
She made the controversial analogy as she tweeted a thread urging Australians to take part in rebuilding efforts amid the disaster
‘Ok Magda, you’ve truly jumped the shark here. I get your hand wringing sentiment, but such a bad analogy. The brave diggers of Gallipoli (who were used as cannon fodder) will be turning in their graves,’ one person said.
‘No comparison. I lost both my grandfathers at Gallipoli. You woke celebrities start practicing what you expect the rest of to do. I’m getting a bit long in the tooth to start walking everywhere ,swim from country to country gather my food,’ another person said.
Another told the actress to ‘stop being hysterical’, saying the two events are not even closely related.
‘8000 soldiers died at Gallipoli. This is nothing like or anything remotely related to Gallipoli. It’s a bushfire, yes it’s big, however it hasn’t claimed lives or houses or properties like we suffered through in Victoria in 2006 and 2009.’
The 1914 event marked the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps’ first engagement in the war and those who served in the campaign are honoured each year on Anzac Day.
The controversy comes days after Ms Szubankski defended friend and co-star Kim Kardashian on Twitter, after the reality star was accused of not doing enough to help Australia.
The pair had starred alongside each other for an UberEats commercial late last year.
Catastrophic: The current bushfire season in Australia has so far claimed 25 lives, destroyed 2,000 homes and killed close to a billion animals
‘For your information, when I did the UberEats ad with Kim, I spoke to her on the phone,’ Magda told her 122,000 Twitter followers.
‘Many people donate their money and time quietly,’ she concluded, implying that Kim had most likely made a donation but chosen not to disclose it.
The Keeping Up with the Kardashians star had earlier responded to a fan who had criticised her for apparently not making a donation.
She reminded them that the advert had been filmed ‘weeks before’ the fires reached the scale of devastation Australians are now witnessing.
‘The very first thing she asked me was how we were going with the bushfires. She was concerned, informed and compassionate,’ Magda added.
