Australian reporter and former 'The Bachelorette' star apologizes for cat-eating Asian joke
Melbourne 7News reporter Georgia Love has apologized after making a racial joke targeting Asians on her Instagram Story on Monday.
What happened: Love, who was also the Bachelorette for season two on the Australian adaptation of the popular reality dating show, drew outrage for posting a video of a cat sitting in a window of a Chinese restaurant with a caption that read, “Shop attendant or lunch?!” and accompanied by crying laughing emojis, according to News.com.au.
Yep and we’re all less than to them. Here’s channel 7s Georgia Love making casual racist joke outside of a Chinese eatery. And she’s on channel 7. ? pic.twitter.com/p4Z16K5atx
— Lilal (@Lilal89156012) September 6, 2021
- The issue blew up after Aussie Influencer Opinions (AIO), an Instagram account that posts opinions about Australian Influencers, reposted the video on their private page. In their post, AIO said the former Bachelorette star failed to consider what her Asian audience would feel when they saw her Instagram Story.
The aftermath: Love posted a lengthy apology on Instagram following the backlash. At the time of this writing, it appears both the offensive video and her subsequent apology have been taken down from her account.
- In her apology, she wrote, “Earlier I posted a video of a cat in a restaurant window. I meant for this to be a joke about an animal being in a restaurant at lunch service time. I meant absolutely no insinuation about the type of animal nor the type of restaurant, but I see that my post did not come across like that and was offensive.”
- AIO shared the exchange they had with Love on Instagram, where the news reporter thanked the page for calling her out and echoed the explanation she used in her apology, Daily Mail reported.
- Love emphasized that she had no bad intentions regarding her post, telling the account, “Not that it was a cat specifically nor that it was an Asian restaurant. I truly did not mean for any insinuation of that and I sincerely apologies (sic) for the oversight and any offense I have caused. Thank you.”
- The account’s admin responded to Love saying that they felt “perplexed” that she didn’t realize how her joke would offend her audience.
Online backlash: Vietnamese-Australian and anti-Asian hate activist Alyssa Ho condemned Love’s post on Instagram and called the reporter’s actions “reckless” amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Ho wrote on her Instagram Story, “It makes me sick just as much as it makes me genuinely sad to think people like her can so openly share things like that, completely disregarding the harm they cause to the Asian community.”
- Like Ho, many people on social media were offended by Love’s Instagram Story and found her apology lacking.
I had someone tell me that Georgia Love probably didn’t mean her “joke” in a malicious way and they can think of many others who say shit and don’t even apologise.
That’s the standard in Australia. If you do something racist, someone is worse so why bother taking accountability?
— Tarang / तरंग (@tarang_chawla) September 6, 2021
I especially like how she tried to pass this off as if the “joke” was not exclusively meant for a cat in an Asian eatery. I highly doubt she she would have made the same “joke” if the cat was sitting inside a Deli or Burger joint.
— Alasdair G. (@torbcake) September 7, 2021
People tell me I eat whale meat ? Georgia Love is problematic AF. Not only racist, but posts hypocritical stuff about Covid. One minute she’s criticising people in Bondi, nek minit she posts an anti-lockdown tweet about mental health being more important ??♀️ I just can’t with her https://t.co/FInk1FI6b3
— Yumiko Kadota (@mindbodymiko) September 6, 2021
for a long-time journalist who’s made a pretty good name for herself, georgia love really does just do problematic af things sometimes, like it’s 2021 don’t be fucking racist.
— jordyn ~ she/her (@eversincegxlden) September 6, 2021
Ugh I can’t stand this excuse! Just because it’s not malicious, doesn’t mean it’s not harmful. It’s insidious, not funny and it encourages bigots.
— Lemon Grab (@raven_mcbovril) September 6, 2021
Love’s social media posts are now being investigated by Channel 7 News for racism, according to Daily Mail.
Featured Image via @georgiealove
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