Australian TV host apologises for trans joke

An Australian TV host has apologised for the series of ‘ignorant’ transgender jokes he made during an episode of The Today Show on Thursday (July 28).

Karl Stefanovic made the jokes during a segment covering the Rio Olympics after a Channel 9 reporter states that she and a cameraman were attacked by ‘transvestites’ shortly after arriving at Rio.

According to the Independent, he 41-year-old quickly made a series of jokes using the word ‘tranny’ which angered viewers.

Then during Friday’s (July 29) show, Stefanovic apologised.

He said, “As we all know I can be a complete tool, right? Well, yesterday I was worse. I was an ignorant tool. And when I say ‘ignorant’, I truly mean it.”

“I often laugh at things I shouldn’t and sometimes say them – but yesterday I got it very wrong. I used the word ‘tranny’, I offended an awful lot of beautiful, sensitive people.”

He continues by stating he didn’t know the “negative and deeply hurtful impact” the word had.

“As we all know I can be a complete tool. Yesterday, I was worse, an ignorant tool.” – @KarlStefanovic #9Today https://t.co/EYFvt33Twu

— The Today Show (@TheTodayShow) July 28, 2016

“Therein lies part of the problem… I never bothered to ask. I assumed trans people might laugh along with me, but I assumed wrong. Like so many words we used in the past, it’s time to throw that one in the bin.”

“I spoke after the show with a friend of mine who said what so many others have told me since: I crossed a line. I didn’t know that line even existed, but I do now. I take this very seriously, because I don’t know what it’s like to feel apart from the rest of mainstream society.”

“I have no understanding of what it’s like to feel you were born in the wrong body, to feel uncomfortable in your own skin, or the extreme courage it takes to accept yourself and live the way you always wanted to live.”

“I used a word, a word I will never use again. I am an ignorant fool at times. I get it wrong sometimes, I probably always will, but as a result of yesterday I have learned a lesson.

“People have told me to educate myself, and I’ve started to, and I encourage all you at home to do the same. It would be great if everyone took a leaf out of the LGBTQI community’s book and is open to talking about why they feel a certain way.”

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