"Apology not accepted!" Steve Price blasts pub's Aus Day boycott
Steve Price has slammed the Aussie pub group responsible for cancelling January 26th celebrations in over 200 venues around the country.
After copping widespread backlash for the controversial move, Australian Venue Co apologised for causing "concern and confusion" with their decision to cancel any Aus Day celebrations in their venues out of respect for Indigenous Australians.
On Monday night's episode of The Project, Steve Price launched into a tirade about the decision, saying, “Apology not accepted!"
"When are these finger waving woke corporations going to wake up to the fact we don’t want them to tell us what to do on Australia Day,” he said.
“Last year it was Woolworths, ‘oh we won’t sell the flag’, the CEO, Brad Banducci, ended up losing his job. Just shut up and let people throw a lamb chop on the barbecue, have a beer and get on with it."
“It’s really annoying, they put this out overnight and when they hear the feedback from the public which says ‘shut up’, they go ‘oh we didn’t mean to offend anyone’, well you did offend people!”
Sarah Harris went on to question what the ban would look like, asking, "Are they going to ban merch, T-shirts? It doesn’t make any sense.”
In a lengthy statement on Monday, Australian Venue Co said it regrets the "concern and confusion" it has caused over comments about celebrating Australia Day.
"We sincerely regret that — our purpose is to reinforce community in our venues, not divide it," the statement read.
"It is not for us to tell anyone whether or how to celebrate Australia Day. We acknowledge that and we apologise for our comments. It certainly wasn't our intention to offend anyone."
"Whether you choose to celebrate Australia Day or not, everyone is welcome in our pubs, always."
Image credits: Getty Images / Sky News