14 DAY TRIAL // Australian viewers – and not only – are incredibly upset after comedienne Fiona O’Loughlin picked on Bindi Irwin, the daughter of the late Steve Irwin, the famous Crocodile Hunter. Invited on the ABC show Spicks and Specks, O’Loughlin said Bindi was very weird, “creepy,” mimicked slapping her in the face and then labeled her and her act a “freak show,” as the Herald Sun can confirm.
The video embedded at the end of the article will show that, while this sounds far worse in text than it does on video, even the other guests on the show did not appreciate O’Loughlin’s joke, with regular Alan Brough labeling the comedienne spiteful for picking on a little child. Fans share the same belief, with hundreds of them taking to the ABC board after the show aired, to complain about how the skit was “tasteless,” “uncalled for” and, in short, “disgusting.”
“O’Loughlin’s outburst stunned fellow panelists, particularly Chris Durling, a former member of Bindi’s Crocmen. Durling said working with Bindi was great, describing her as ‘gorgeous’ and down-to-earth. ‘What you see is what you get,’ Durling said of Bindi. A laughing O’Loughin replied: ‘Yeah, a freak show.’ Series regular Alan Brough waded into the awkward discussion, joking that O’Loughlin was spiteful and hateful for getting stuck into a little girl. Viewers were quick to voice their outrage, with the ABC’s online message board awash with criticism, saying the show had lost the plot,” the aforementioned publication writes.
Before that, O’Loughin said that she found Bindi “a little creepy” and then gestured that she would like to slap her several times across the face to stop her from being so hyped at all times. In light of the controversy, O’Loughin has issued a statement to say she doesn’t understand what the fuss is all about. According to the comedienne, she’s said far worse things about herself and no one took offense. Bindi Irwin is a celebrity and she should expect to be subject to banter and parody, she believes.
“I don’t know what all the fuss is about. It was a throwaway line as a part of banter on a comedy panel show. I’m a comedian and comedians make fun of people we know. I’ve said worse about myself. Bindi has been operating in the public domain for years now, and material about her sometimes appears in my shows along with other people you know (and some you don’t). I’m as much a target as Bindi is and have been the recipient of all kinds of remarks and jokes for years – just like anyone in the public eye is a target for comedians and commentators,” O’Loughin says in a statement to the aforementioned media outlet.