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Waleed Aly speaks out after outrage over AFL star’s racism claims

<p><span>Waleed Aly is still refusing to apologise after he sat down former AFL star Heritier Lumumba for <em>The Project</em> in 2017.</span><br /><br /><span>T<em>he Project</em> host on Sunday revealed that he will not apologise for the interview he conducted with Lumumba, before his football club, Collingwood, concluded in an internal investigation the club was guilty of fostering “systemic racism”.</span><br /><br /><span>Lumumba claimed that he had endured a “culture of racist jokes” and being nicknamed “Chimp” while playing for the Magpies between 2005-2014..</span><br /><br /><span>The controversial 2017 interview came to light again in February after Collingwood’s bombshell “Do Better” report was released.</span><br /><br /><span>Former club president Eddie McGuire described the release of the report as a “proud day” for the club but he was forced to resign in the days that followed.</span><br /><br /><span>During the interview, Aly questioned why there weren’t other players who had come forward and corroborated his claims about being called “Chimp”.</span></p> <p><img style="width: 500px; height: 281.25px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7840510/waleed-2.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/86151fa1c4d340b08a6ce708694344e7" /></p> <p><em>Image: Screenshot from The Project, 2017.</em><br /><br /><span>Co-host Peter Helliar was one of many who questioned Lumumba’s claims and integrity and quickly took to Twitter to apologise for his actions in the deleted video.</span><br /><br /><span>Aly — and Network 10 — have refused to apologise, saying that he stands by his scepticism.</span><br /><br /><span>“No, I don’t regret the interview at all,” Aly told The Daily Telegraph.</span><br /><br /><span>“I was approached to do the interview by his team, we did it. I asked the questions I think had to be asked in the circumstances it was for him to answer. I think that it’s been part of the process that has led us to this point.</span><br /><br /><span>“I think he’s entirely justified to feel vindicated by (the findings).”</span><br /><br /><span>Aamer Rahman, a friend of Lumumba’s, also criticised Aly for allegedly playing a part in “discrediting” Lumumba.</span><br /><br /><span>“The questions were bizarre. For example, if Heritier was telling the truth, why wouldn’t more players admit to a culture of racism at the club? Imagine staking a victim’s credibility on why none of their abusers had publicly admitted to their behaviour,” Rahman wrote on Twitter in June last year.</span><br /><br /><span>He claimed the hour-and-a-half interview “brought Heritier to tears”, before slamming the interview as“unethical and dishonest”.</span></p>

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Controversial Waleed Aly interview deleted

<p><span>Channel 10 has removed a controversial interview between Waleed Aly and former Collingwood Magpies defender Heritier Lumumba following intense backlash.</span><br /><br /><span>Aly has been pushed to apologise for his 2017 interview with Lumumba in 2017 after a report found Collingwood was indeed guilty of fostering “systemic racism”.</span><br /><br /><span>An investigation followed after Lumumba made damning claims that there was an enduring “culture of racist jokes” and also revealed he had allegedly been nicknamed “Chimp” while playing for the Magpies.</span><br /><br /><span>Aly interviewed Lumumba for an episode of the popular Channel 10 show, and discussed the nickname.</span><br /><br /><span>The Project panellist Peter Helliar questioned the authenticity of Lumumba’s allegations, saying at the time “it would be really helpful if we heard more detail, especially with the nickname”.</span><br /><br /><span>The comedian also claimed Lumumba risked “smearing an entire club” if his story could not be proven true.</span><br /><br /><span>While Helliar has apologised on Twitter, there have been questions over whether Aly should follow suit for the doubt he put on some of the footy star’s allegations.</span></p> <p><span><img style="width: 500px; height: 281.25px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7839818/daily.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/75d0433569904482876ac54a6d83dfce" /></span><br /><br /><span>Speaking on ABC’s <em>Offsiders</em>, veteran cricket journalist Gideon Haigh was one of the many who criticised those who casted doubt on the former AFL player.</span><br /><br /><span>“Was it ever seriously so difficult to believe Lumumba?” Haigh said on Sunday morning.</span><br /><br /><span>“It seems to me the journalists bought readily into the club’s campaign to discredit him because of their need for access, because of their general conformity and frankly their whiteness.”</span><br /><br /><span>Former Collingwood players Brent Macaffer, Leon David, Chris Dawes and Andrew Krakouer have all said they heard the nickname “Chimp”.</span><br /><br /><span>Former teammate Simon Buckley, who is Indigenous, responded to the Collingwood report by launching a scathing attack on Lumumba on Facebook.</span><br /><br /><span>“He made the nickname up for himself,” Buckley said in the since-deleted exchange.</span><br /><br /><span>“He was all for it when he was winning flags and playing well. He would refer to himself as chimp. He all of a sudden 10 years later wants to be a humanitarian.</span><br /><br /><span>“He never complained when he was winning flags and getting a kick himself and calling himself that name. Now all of a sudden he’s out of the media and wants to be back in the limelight and get a few bucks. Weak as p**s.</span><br /><br /><span>“If he wanted to preach about racism, he shoulda called it out at the time and not run with it and calling himself that for a laugh.”</span></p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p dir="ltr">"The journalists bought readily into [Collingwood's] campaign to discredit [Lumumba] because of their need for access, because of their general conformity and, frankly, their whiteness."<br />Gideon Haigh takes a swipe at the media after the Collingwood racism report. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/offsiders?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#offsiders</a> <a href="https://t.co/jKTp0jBmVG">pic.twitter.com/jKTp0jBmVG</a></p> — Offsiders ABC (@OffsidersABC) <a href="https://twitter.com/OffsidersABC/status/1358216262451568645?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 7, 2021</a></blockquote> <p><br /><span>Lumumba later hit back at Buckley’s accusations, and claimed the nickname “began in 2005, during the pre-season and, no, I did not make it up myself”.</span><br /><br /><span>“Despite the nickname being overtly racist, unfortunately, it was not the worst facet of the interpersonal racism that I encountered during my 10 years at CFC. Within two months of me being at the club, I had already been exposed to a culture where racist ideas, in the form of jokes, stereotypes and direct abuse, was prevalent,” he posted.</span><br /><br /><span>Lumumba also clarified that at the time, he was just “a young man of 23-24 years of age, and had yet to understand the dangerous implications of the racism that was allowed to proliferate within the club’s culture”.</span></p>

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