Latest news with #AntiDefamationCommission
News.com.au
18-07-2025
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
ABC star's ‘obscene' Anne Frank joke sparks outrage
A Triple J radio host has been blasted for using a derogatory sexual term to describing Holocaust survivor Anne Frank during a stand-up routine at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Concetta Caristo, a co-host of Triple J's breakfast program, was telling the audience she was a 'girls' girl' who could get along with 'any girl in the world, even in history'. 'Put me in a room with Cleopatra and I'd be like, 'Oh my god, I love your eyeliner', or with Anne Frank and I'd say, 'Slut, I have a diary too! Congrats on the book deal',' she said. But Anti-Defamation Commission chair Dvir Abramovich said it was not funny, describing it instead as a 'brutal desecration' of the memory of the Holocaust. 'This wasn't just a joke. It was a brutal desecration of the memory of Anne Frank and the one-and-a-half million Jewish children who were murdered in the Holocaust – gassed, shot, starved, erased,' he said in a statement. 'When someone takes a victim of genocide and turns her into an obscene punchline, they don't just mock her – they violate her.' The 15-year-old girl died in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945 after she was found hiding in Amsterdam. She gained posthumous fame after the publication of her diary, which shared her personal account of the Holocaust. 'Anne Frank … didn't get a book deal. She got typhus. She got starvation. She got a death sentence in Bergen-Belsen,' Dr Abramovich said. He also expressed shock at the use of the word 'slut', describing it as a 'term of sexual humiliation aimed at a girl who never lived long enough to become a woman'. Ms Caristo's management told NewsWire she was 'away and not available'. Her social media indicates she is currently travelling, including kayaking in Hamilton Island.
Daily Mail
18-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE ABC star Concetta Caristo sparks uproar for disgraceful joke about victim of the Holocaust
A Triple J radio host has come under fire after she called Anne Frank a 'sl**' during a stand-up routine at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Concetta Caristo, a co-host of Triple J's breakfast program, made the shocking remarks about the Holocaust survivor after she described herself as a 'girls' girl' who could get along with 'any girl in the world, even in history'. 'Like, put me in a room with Cleopatra and I'd be like, "Oh my god, I love your eyeliner", or with Anne Frank and I'd say, "sl**, I have a diary too - congrats on the book deal",' Caristo said during the set. The joke has been condemned by the chairman of the Anti-Defamation Commission, who described it as a 'brutal desecration' of the memory of the Holocaust. 'This wasn't just a joke. It was a brutal desecration of the memory of Anne Frank and the one and a half million Jewish children who were murdered in the Holocaust - gassed, shot, starved, erased,' Dr Dvir Abramovich said. 'When someone takes a victim of genocide and turns her into an obscene punchline, they don't just mock her - they violate her.' Anne Frank was just 15-years-old when she died in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp just months after she was discovered hiding in a secret annex in Amsterdam. Her diary, discovered after the war, has become one of the most powerful and enduring personal accounts of the Holocaust. Dr Abramovich criticised Caristo for using Frank's memory to gain laughs. 'Anne Frank was fifteen. She didn't get a book deal. She got typhus. She got starvation. She got a death sentence in Bergen-Belsen,' he said. 'And now, in the country she never reached, at a festival meant to celebrate human creativity, someone turned the story of a murdered girl into stage material.' The chairman also took issue with the word 'sl**,' describing it as a 'term of sexual humiliation aimed at a girl who never lived long enough to become a woman'. 'A joke like this tears something in us. This was kicking, using the silence of a dead girl to get a noise from the crowd,' he continued. 'In today's culture, only Jewish trauma is up for sale. The genocide of six million has become fair game for cheap laughs.' Dr Abramovich called on the ABC and Triple J to publicly condemn the joke. 'This is not edgy. It's empty. It's what happens when cruelty becomes currency. Anne Frank is not a meme. She is not material for your set of "jokes",' he said. 'She was a young woman whose last words were never written because her pencil was taken from her.' When contacted by Daily Mail Australia, Caristo's management declined to comment, saying she was 'away this week and not available'. Photos from the host's Instagram account show her kayaking in Hamilton Island. Minutes after the request, a video of Caristo's set was deleted from Facebook.
Sky News AU
23-06-2025
- Politics
- Sky News AU
Vandals target Melbourne Hebrew Congregation synagogue
An iconic Melbourne religious institution has been vandalised twice in a day. The heritage-listed Melbourne Hebrew Congregation synagogue was targeted by vandals on Sunday. One piece of graffiti read 'Iran is da bomb' inscribed in a mushroom cloud, alongside another piece of vandalism that said 'free Palestine'. 'It is believed a wall of the Toorak Road premises was graffitied by an unknown person sometime on Sunday afternoon,' a police spokesman said. 'That was removed but unknown offenders again graffitied the building sometime on Sunday evening.' The original graffitied message also said 'free Palestine'. 'There is absolutely no place at all in our society for anti-Semitic or hate-based symbols and behaviour,' the police spokesman said. Police want anyone with information to come forward. Rabbi Shlomo Nathanson told the Herald Sun: 'We're just frustrated and exhausted by all of this and we hope that is shared by members outside Jewish community'. 'We feel this to be an attack on the Melbourne Hebrew Congregation and it is unacceptable. 'While this is an offence to the Jewish community, it is our hope that people say 'not on my watch, not in my Australia',' the Rabbi said. Chair of Australia's non-governmental Anti Defamation Commission, Dvir Abramovich, told NewsWire the graffiti represented an attack on religious freedom. 'There are moments that stop us cold. This is one of them,' Dr Abramovich said. 'This was not random. It was a calculated attempt to intimidate Jewish Australians. 'Let us be clear: an attack on a synagogue is an attack on every church, every mosque, every temple. It is an attack on the very idea that faith can be practised freely, without fear.' The Premier labelled the graffiti 'disgraceful' and 'senseless'. 'It is just so vitally important that we do not allow conflict and violence overseas to divide us here in Melbourne and Victoria,' Jacinta Allan said. The Melbourne Hebrew Congregation is a monumental temple on the high-traffic corner of Toorak Road and St Kilda Road, about 2km south of the CBD. The building was constructed between 1928 and 1930. The synagogue is heritage-listed for its historical, aesthetic and social significance. The graffiti referencing Iran was written about 12 hours after the US bombed Iranian facilities, which are suspected of being used to enrich uranium and develop nuclear weapons. Originally published as 'Iran is da bomb': Vandals target historic Melbourne synagogue
Daily Mail
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Aussie senator defends picking 'Heil Hitler' as his song of the week - after fury erupts over his love of the Kanye West track
A controversial 'Make Australia Great Again' politician has doubled down on his decision to choose Kanye West 's song 'Heil Hitler', as his 'song of the week'. Ralph Babet, a senator for Clive Palmer's United Australia Party, earlier this week shared a post not only endorsing West's song but also announcing he'd rather associate with neo-Nazis than the 'mentally ill' and 'baby-killing' left-wing. In the song, West refers to himself as a Nazi and plays audio of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, whose reign of terror led to the murder of six-million Jews in the Holocaust. The post sparked outrage from Anti-Defamation Commission chairman Dr Dvir Abramovich, who warned it signalled a larger, dangerous issue and called on United Australia leader Clive Palmer to sack Babet from the party. The controversial senator has since defended his song choice. 'I like Kanye West. He's a great artist… If someone else doesn't like what he puts out, don't buy it. Don't listen to it,' Babet told The Australian. 'But don't you f**king dare tell me what I can and can't listen to.' 'If they're going to try and associate me with being a Nazi - a brown immigrant from Africa - that's f**king bulls**t. You know it. I know it.' When approached for comment by Daily Mail Australia, Babet pointed to a post on X, formerly Twitter, with his interpretation of West's song. 'The entire point of the song, as would be clear to anyone who even bothered to do even a minimal amount of homework, is that Hitler is bad,' Babet wrote. 'That's right. The point of the song is that Adolf Hitler is bad. He is the personification of evil and mental illness. 'The song begins with Kanye West confessing that he is filled with rage and anger. Worse, he is hopelessly addicted to drugs. Then he admits, 'I'm the villain. 'It's in that context he sings 'Heil Hitler', not to acknowledge Hitler's desire to kill Jews but in the sense that Hitler, in our culture, has come to mean the devil.' Dr Abramovich was outraged to learn that a sitting Australian senator funded by the taxpayer endorsing a song glorifying Hitler. 'This is not a clumsy joke,' Dr Abramovich told Daily Mail Australia. 'When a federal parliamentarian publicly declares that a track titled 'Heil Hitler' is his favourite of the week, the alarm bells shouldn't be ringing - they should be deafening. 'This is not free speech. This is a public meltdown of moral responsibility.' Dr Abramovich explained the unashamed glorification of Hitler, seemingly without tangible consequences, will only give rise to far-right groups. The use of the genocide leader's name in trivial content, like a social media post, only works to numb viewers from atrocities driven by discrimination. 'Hitler is not a meme or a punchline. His name stands for genocide, mass murder, and gas chambers,' Dr Abramovich said. 'It is carved into the bones of six-million Jews and millions more victims. 'And now, a senator is casually promoting that name like it's just another track in a playlist.' Adding to Dr Abramovich's concern is Babet's proud narrow-mindedness, which is often applauded by his supporters. 'This same elected official says he'd rather associate with a neo-Nazi group than with Australians he disagrees with,' he said. 'He calls his fellow citizens 'retarded', 'baby-killing', and 'mentally ill' - and then shrugs it off with a smirk. 'What message does this send? That hatred is fashionable? That praising Nazi propaganda is just a vibe? That slurs and incitement are acceptable if you're wearing a suit? 'If a song titled 'Heil Hitler' is now being celebrated by someone sitting in the Australian Senate, what dark corner is left to reach?' Other Aussies were also outraged by Babet's post. 'This outrageous rubbish comes from a senator in the Australian parliament. In my view, he is not a fit and proper person to continue in that role,' one man wrote. Dr Abramovich called Mr Palmer to send a message to all Neo-Nazis. 'I am calling on Clive Palmer to immediately disendorse Senator Ralph Babet and to unequivocally condemn these abhorrent and dehumanising remarks,' he said. 'If he stays silent, he is complicit. 'This is not about left or right. This is about right and wrong. Australia must be better than this. 'The senator says he likes the song. I say this will be remembered as the moment we either stood up or stood by.' Babet was elected to the Senate for Victoria in 2022. He announced he will not run again following his current term, which ends in June 2028.
