Andrew Bolt has launched a scathing attack on Mark Latham over his homophobic tweet to a gay MP, noting that a longtime senior adviser to One Nation leader Pauline Hanson is gay.
The conservative commentator unleashed on the NSW One Nation leader during his Sky News Australia program on Thursday evening, going so far as saying Latham’s controversial tweet directed at Independent NSW MP Alex Greenwich was something ‘a scumbag’ would write.
Mr Greenwich had branded Latham ‘a disgusting human being’ after LGBTQI protesters were targeted outside a church in Sydney’s south-west where the NSW Upper House MP was speaking last week.
‘Mark Latham is a disgusting human being and people who are considering voting for One Nation need to realise they are voting for an extremely hateful and dangerous individual who risks causing a great deal of damage to our state,’ Mr Greenwich said at a press conference.
The statement was then posted on Twitter, with Latham responding on Thursday: ‘Disgusting? How does that compare with sticking your d*** up a bloke’s a*** and covering it with s***?’
Conservative political commentator Andrew Bolt (pictured) has unleashed on NSW One Nation leader Mark Latham over his vile homophobic tweet posted on Thursday
‘Latham this morning put out a tweet so disgusting that even he felt ashamed and eventually deleted it, but much too late,’ Bolt said.
‘This tweet was so disgusting, so homophobic and so vile in a pornographic way that I cannot even hint at what he said about a gay politician, Alex Greenwich.
‘It was the kind of thing a scumbag would write.’
Bolt expressed his view that Latham ‘seems to have a self-destruct button’ that he was ‘punching far too often’.
‘He will be a pariah, and not just here at Sky. I wonder how he will be able to function as a political leader when he’s earned the contempt of so many for his abuse,’ he continued.
NSW One Nation leader Mark Latham (pictured) posted the vile tweet in response to Independent MP Alex Greenwich branding him a ‘disgusting human being’
Latham wrote: ‘Disgusting? How does that compare with sticking your d*** up a bloke’s a*** and covering it with s***?’
The Sky News host pointed out that Latham’s behaviour was a ‘real problem’ for his party’s federal leader, Pauline Hanson.
‘Latham taints her. She has tried to reign him in, but now this,’ Bolt said.
‘Does Latham know that Hanson’s closest advisor for years, a top bloke, is himself gay?’
Bolt was referring to James Ashby, who has worked as Hanson’s chief-of-staff for more than seven years.
He said that Hanson was ‘furious’ over Latham’s tweet and decided not to speak on Andrew Bolt’s Sky News program about the matter in case she ‘really explodes’.
Pauline Hanson (pictured) posted a damning video on Facebook on Thursday night where she made it clear her party did not ‘condone’ her colleague’s comments
Bolt questioned whether Latham knew that Hanson’s closest advisor, James Ashby (pictured left with Hanson) was gay when he posted the homophobic tweet
Hanson had already posted a video earlier in the day to address her colleague’s tweet.
She said she tried calling Latham a few times to ask him to issue a public apology but he had not responded.
‘I’ve actually tried to ring Mark a couple of times, to no avail. And I have clearly sent a text message to him, telling him my views,’ she said.
‘I’ve asked him to give the people an apology. I will leave it at that. It is now over to Mark to answer to the people.’
Bolt then addressed Latham at the end of the segment, telling him that he is ‘such a clever man, with so much to offer’ but sometimes says things that ‘are so cruel and vicious and now homophobic that the one who’s hurt most is you’.
Alex Greenwich (pictured) said he didn’t expect an apology from Latham and didn’t expect any recourse in the NSW Parliament
Latham has gone into hiding amid the widespread public outrage.
Alex Greenwich said on Friday that he didn’t want to waste his time engaging the One Nation MP’s now-deleted Twitter post, but admitted it had affected him.
‘It is extremely hurtful when there is a vile homophobic attack directed at you,’ the member for Sydney said.
‘It’s not the first time this has happened to me … that hurt, though, quickly turned into motivation to make sure we stamp out laws which allow my community to be discriminated against.
‘Just as horrific as Mr Latham’s comments are, the impact of current legislation in NSW is more horrific.’
Mr Greenwich said he didn’t expect an apology from Latham and didn’t expect any recourse in the NSW Parliament.
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