{"id":25403,"date":"2026-06-05T09:06:19","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T09:06:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/25403\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T09:06:19","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T09:06:19","slug":"charlie-pickering-says-hes-a-big-fan-of-grace-tame","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/25403\/","title":{"rendered":"Charlie Pickering says he\u2019s a \u2018big fan\u2019 of Grace Tame"},"content":{"rendered":"

ABC comedian Charlie Pickering has walked back his criticism of the public broadcaster\u2019s decision to commission Grace Tame to host a four-part podcast, saying he was \u201ctaken out of context\u201d when he said earlier this week that the appointment had been \u201cproblematic\u201d. <\/p>\n

Pickering, who took over ABC Melbourne\u2019s drivetime radio show only last month, told his audience he had been \u201cmisrepresented\u201d on Tuesday when he was asked by YouTuber Avi Yemeni what he thought of his employer\u2019s decision to hire Tame<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Pickering told Yemeni that in the wake of her comments in February about \u201cglobalising the intifada\u201d, and her subsequent claim that reports of sexual violence by Hamas on October 7, 2023, had been \u201cdebunked\u201d, it was \u201cproblematic\u201d that the ABC had given her a podcast. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think, as a Jewish Australian, there\u2019s a complete misunderstanding of a lot of the words that are said and what (the) true meanings of them are. A lot of people are using words and phrases that have meaning well beyond what they think they do,\u201d Pickering said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think you could argue that a lot of people who jump on protest bandwagons are ignorant a lot of the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Thursday, Pickering<\/a> opened his drive show by declaring he was \u201ca big fan of Grace Tame\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cOn Tuesday, there was a protest outside the ABC here in (Melbourne\u2019s) Southbank by a group critical of the ABC and alleging editorial bias,\u201d he said. \u201cI headed out to hear what they had to say and interview people in the hope of listening to their concerns and perhaps airing their views on this program. <\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, I was ambushed by a known provocateur (Yemeni) and pressed into a conversation that was not planned and that I definitely had no intention of being a part of. <\/p>\n

\u201cI would never have agreed or planned to be interviewed by that person, and to say so misrepresents me and the full context of the situation. <\/p>\n

\u201cMore importantly than that, I am very disappointed there is a suggestion I am against Grace Tame, or that she is not an appropriate host of a podcast about \u00adautism. This is simply untrue. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always been a big fan of Grace Tame. She\u2019s an outstanding advocate for those on the \u00adautism spectrum, for survivors and for women and for all of us. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve also admired her contribution to public life in Australia and expressed that support on The Weekly many times.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn this occasion, I was asked a specific question about an issue that personally affects myself and my family, an issue upon which reasonable minds will differ, and upon which I believe all views should be respectfully considered \u2026 a belief I took with me as I headed out to interview vocal critics of the ABC on Tuesday. <\/p>\n

\u201cI spoke on this occasion on behalf of myself and no one else. From that, all manner of beliefs and positions have been projected on to me that are not true. But that\u2019s on me. <\/p>\n

\u201cContext is in short supply these days and I should have known better. I forgot the immortal words of Jay Z: \u2018A wise man told me don\u2019t argue with fools because people from a distance can\u2019t tell who is who.\u2019 <\/p>\n

\u201cI was a little naive and I will learn from that \u2026 but whatever beliefs I may hold on any particular issue, it cannot be said I have a problem with or would in any way have gone after Grace Tame.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a statement, an ABC spokesperson said Pickering\u2019s comments about Tame\u2019s podcast had not breached the media organisation\u2019s code of conduct. <\/p>\n

\u201cMr Pickering made clear that the views he expressed were his personal views. They do not affect his ability to perform his role or the integrity of ABC content. The ABC does not consider this to be a breach of its code of conduct or public comment guidelines.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tame\u2019s four-part podcast, Autistic AF with Grace Tame, launched this week.<\/p>\n

\"James<\/a><\/p>\n

James Madden has worked for The Australian for over 20 years. As a reporter, he covered courts, crime and politics in Sydney and Melbourne. James was previously Sydney chief of staff, deputy national chief of staff and national chief of staff, and was appointed media editor in 2021.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ABC comedian Charlie Pickering has walked back his criticism of the public broadcaster\u2019s decision to commission Grace Tame…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25404,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[22,23,133,21,23399,12663,23396,23401,23400,23397,23394,9624,23402,20797,23405,1247,23388,23393,23391,23403,120,23392,23404,23389,23395,23390,23398],"class_list":["post-25403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-austrlia","tag-autism-spectrum","tag-charlie-pickering","tag-day-luncheon","tag-drive-show","tag-drivetime-radio-show","tag-editorial-bias","tag-four-part-podcast","tag-hamas","tag-immortal-words","tag-james-madden","tag-jay-z","tag-justin-lloyd","tag-marie-claire","tag-media-organisation","tag-moral-compass","tag-nye-coverage","tag-oceania","tag-particular-issue","tag-pic-desk","tag-protest-bandwagons","tag-public-comment-guidelines","tag-radio-host","tag-zan-rowe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25403"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25403\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}