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Sky News has finished the contract of its late-night to introduce Ross Cameron.
Cameron, a co-host of Outsiders, which is shown on Sky and free-to-air television, portrayed as "black-haired, slanty-eyed, yellow-skinned" during a 30 October broadcast.
The activist group Sleeping Giants Oz, which aims to hold the media accountable by means of sponsorship advertisers at-times problematic programs, published the clip on social media, where it was quickly picked up by the trainer Tim Soutphommasane.
Tim Soutphommasane
(@Timsout)Part of me does not want to give this any attention, but this is nasty even by the low standards of Sky News and Outsiders. Ross Cameron and Rowan Dean: do not complain if you're called racist and bigoted. That describes your program accurately https://t.co/tozHGAjsUx
The former Labor Minister Craig Emerson, who left Sky News as a commentator after an interview with the far-right extremist Blair Cottrell in August, also lashed out at the broadcaster for continuing support Cameron.
Craig Emerson
(@DrCraigEmerson)This is straight out of the News Corp racism: "black haired, slanty eyed Chinese …". Are you comfortable with this? I left Sky for promoting Nazism. Now it's anti-Chinese racism. @SkyNewsAust has no boundaries. https://t.co/iwT4aexTLA
Advertisers including Qantas, which continues to showcase the channel in its airport lounges, cam down to their sponsorship of Sky News, which is still recovering from Cottrell's controversial hosting, who holds Nazi sympathies, one of its (now axed ) programs.
The new Sky News chief, Paul Whittaker, announced on Friday afternoon that Cameron had been let go. "I have today advised Ross Cameron that his contract with Sky News has been terminated," he said in a statement.
"Sky News is committed to robust discussion and debate, but this language is totally unacceptable and has no place on any of our platforms, nor in modern Australian society."
The 30 October program was removed from Sky News platforms on Friday morning.
Cameron told 2GB on Friday afternoon he was "happy to apologize" for the remarks, which he described as "clumsy".
"I think it was better, and it was done, definitely," he said.
"If you read the comments in their totality the strength of the Chinese made by any public figure in Australia for the last several months. There was absolutely no intention to offend, but I am happy to apologize for it, for anyone who has taken offense. "
Cameron made the remarks while defending China against allegations it was attempting to infiltrate Australia's intelligence network.
"And I'm just saying to you the Chinese civilization is the oldest continuing civilization in the world, OK, it's not going anywhere," he said.
"1.4 billion people – it has gotten to a sixth of the world's population. All of them are studying English.
"If you go to the Disneyland in Shanghai, you'll see 20,000 black-haired, slanty-eyed, yellow-skinned Chinese, desperate to get into Disneyland because they like and embrace many aspects of western culture. "
The show, which Cameron has co-hosted with Rowan Dean, has not been controversial, most recently apologizing for comments. David Leyonhjelm made about Sarah Hanson-Young while a guest.
Cameron is the second Outsider host to be fired; Mark Latham's hosting contract was terminated shortly after the launch in March 2017 after he called a teenager "gay" to take part in an International Womens' Day campaign.
Cameron, who served as the Liberal MP for Parramatta between 1996 and 2004, was made last year by Gladys Berejiklian.
He had previously been referred to the New South Wales Liberals as "basically a gay club" and labeled the Sydney Morning Herald as the "Sydney Morning Homosexual" during the marriage equality debate.
Outsiders had a vision of the "outsiders" view of politics "but struggled to find a mainstream audience. It was recently shifted from its Monday to Thursday 8pm slot time to 11pm on Sky News's Foxtel channel and free-to-air regional network, WIN.
Dr. Dvir Abramovich, Chairman of the Anti-Defamation Commission, Australia's leading civil rights organization, issued the following statement:
"The bold and swift response by Sky News is an important and powerful message that, in particular, is a form of discrimination that is unacceptable and hurtful behavior. We strongly agree with Paul Whittaker's unquivocal statement that there is no place on earth. We also welcome the apology by Mr Ross and hope that his regret will be served by a teachable moment to others about the harm caused, and about the need to disavow both the language and the feeling behind such remarks.
Cameron was contacted by Guardian Australia but said he had no immediate comment.
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