Content Warning: This article about Georgia Love contains allegations of racist behaviour. If you or someone you know is affected by the following story, you are not alone. To speak to someone, you can call Lifeline on 13 11 14.
Channel 7 reporter and former Bachelorette Georgia Love is reportedly being investigated by her employer over a ‘racist’ Instagram post.
In case you missed it, the journalist and TV personality landed in hot water on Monday after she uploaded an Instagram story of a cat inside an Asian restaurant with the caption “shop attendant or lunch?!”.
The post quickly drew backlash from followers for appearing to perpetuate racist stereotypes about Asian people, leading Love to delete it and release an apology.
“I meant absolutely no insinuation about the type of animal nor the type of restaurant, but I do see that my post did not come across like that and was offensive,” she said.
“I sincerely apologise for the oversight and offence I have caused. Thank you to those who called me out. This is what we need to make sure we are all accountable and do better. Again, I apologise from the bottom of my heart for the offence caused.”
From there, the popular Instagram account @aussieinfluenceropinions unearthed a different post that Love shared on her Instagram in 2013 that shows an animal hospital next door to a restaurant called China Chef.
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Underneath the photo is an image of a cartoon dog with eyes narrowed, along with the caption “that’s suspicious.”
According to @aussieinfluenceropinions, Love deleted the post shortly after the account shared it.
According to The Daily Telegraph, Channel 7 is reportedly investigating Love’s posts and “taking the matter seriously.”
Several prominent Australians have since spoken out about the “casual racism” displayed in both the posts, including Masterchef judge Melissa Leong.
“Casual racism from nice people is possibly the most betraying and insidious kind,” Leong wrote on her Instagram story.
She continued: “Not angry, just completely bummed that this video exists and that it isn’t the first joke of this kind made by [Love]. Georgia, I really hope your remorse is real and that you grow in the right direction because this stuff hurts more people, more than you think.”
Meanwhile, anti-Asian hate campaigner Alyssa Ho has also condemned Love and called on her to make a public apology to the Asian community in Australia.
“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,” Ho wrote on Instagram.
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Check out both of Georgia Love’s since-deleted Instagram posts that have been reuploaded by Alyssa Ho:
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