The Australian political advisor who went on a shocking anti-Irish rant during a live television debate has finally apologised for his insulting comments. Grahame Morris accused the Irish of being “people who can’t grow potatoes” and calling the shamrock a “mutant lawn weed”.
He made the insulting comments during a Sky News discussion on a potential same-sex marriage referendum in Australia.
He said: “I think this is one of the most insensitive cons in politics. The trigger was a vote in Ireland. You know I love the Irish, half the parliament is full of Irishmen but these are people who can’t grow potatoes, they have a mutant lawn weed as their national symbol and they can’t verbalise the difference between a tree and the number three, and all of a sudden Australia has to follow suit.”
Morris’ political opponent Barry Hawker was stunned as he heard the disparaging comments. However, he couldn’t resist intervening to simply say: “There goes the Irish vote. All you Irish out there, take note.”
The shocking comments from Morris are provoked a vicious backlash from Irish Australians and also the country as a whole.
The criticism of Morris also came from further afield, most notably on social media. One viewer posted: “Bruce Hawker barely needed to respond to Morris, just hand him the shovel and let him keep digging.”
An Irish emigrant posted: “Hurts me to hear the racist comments of #GrahameMorris about the Irish, after spending two years living in his country. #Australia”
One viewer pointed out that Mr Morris was actually incorrect in his comments about the shamrock being the Irish national symbol: “I think somebody needs to explain to Grahame Morris that a harp isn’t a lawn weed.”
As is the nature of social media comments, many were not suitable for us to publish. However, this cheeky post certainly deserves a mention: “What three did he fall out of?”
Morris has now apologised for his outburst. He told Sky News: “I got myself into a hell of a pickle on this. To all those with Irish backgrounds, which includes me, incidentally, I’m actually very sorry. What I said was tasteless and I copped the whack I probably deserved.”
Take a look at Mr Morris’ rant for yourselves. Skip forward to 7 minutes 45 seconds to hear his comments on Ireland.
