Stan Grant hits back at Ben Fordham over Q+A ejection
Stan Grant has hit back at Ben Fordham for questioning his decision to remove a pro-Russian advocate from the Q+A audience last week.
In last week's episode of the program, host Stan Grant asked an audience member to leave the studio after he shared widely discredited pro-Russian claims about killings in Ukraine.
The Russian university student told the panel, “Believe it or not, there are a lot of Russians here and around the world that support what Putin’s doing in Ukraine, myself included.”
The comments prompted Stan Grant to ask the audience member to leave, saying the student was "supporting violence".
2GB radio host Ben Fordham weighed in on the situation on his radio show, suggesting Grant was pressured by ABC producers to remove the audience member.
“Someone got in Stan’s ear, because it took him 20 minutes and then he decided Sasha [the student] had to go,” Fordham said.
“It sounded to me like Stan Grant lost control of his own show.”
He went on to say the whole idea of Q+A is to have a "robust debate", and believed the man should not have been removed at all.
“Obviously, we don’t support what Russia’s doing, but I don’t think this guy … was advocating violence,” Fordham said.
“He’s a Russian living in Australia and he’s standing up for his own country.”
Defending his actions to The Australian, Stan Grant explained why he chose to eject the student and why he believes his decision was justified.
“It troubled me that someone in an ABC studio was saying that they supported an illegal invasion where people were dying,” Grant explained.
“People who sit there and take potshots know nothing about it. The remarks were distressing to people in the room. I wanted to have a proper discussion about the points raised, but it troubled me. We all walk out of there safe and sound, but people in Ukraine are not. You’ve got people dying right now.”
The veteran journalist further backed himself, by saying Fordham's unprompted jabs were "disappointing".
“I put my journalistic career up against his (Fordham’s) any day,” Grant said.
“Whenever I’ve met Ben Fordham, he’s always been polite and friendly. I don’t know whether to take that at face value, but it’s disappointing.”
Image credits: ABC - Q+A footage / Instagram @benfordham9