She’s previously sparked outrage with offensive messages on Anzac Day and a tirade of criticism aimed at Prince Harry’s wife Meghan. Now Aussie comedian Catherine Deveny is claimed to have taken aim at struggling farmers amid the country’s horrendous drought.
Despite calls for her to be ignored, the Daily Mail has shone the spotlight back on the outspoken comedian by publishing a tirade she allegedly shared on Facebook, this time aimed at Aussie farmers. The post has since been deleted, along with Deveny’s entire Facebook profile.
The news outlet shared a screenshot of a post, allegedly from her personal profile, branding farmers “pig headed, entitled and inflexible”, before claiming some farmers have a sense of privilege, and none of them should be bailed out.
“Many farmers are pig headed, entitled, inflexible and cashing in on Australia’s romanticised idea of the land,” the Mail quotes her as writing. “The government bank rolling farmers s**t me.”
She allegedly added: “Some farmers are thriving because they are respond (sic) to change in markets and climates. Others have a breathtaking sense of privilege it’s impossible for me to fathom.”
Starts at 60 has contacted Deveny for comment.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BmUY3Teh_N2/?hl=en&taken-by=catherinedeveny
It comes after a number of farmers have shared heartbreaking images and stories of what the drought is doing to their homes and livelihood. Last month, Laura Jones appeared on 2GB radio where she shared how dire the situation had become.
“To have little or no rain in all of these years is devastating, [we’re] basically almost on the brink of shooting our stock and walking away,” the mother told host Chris Smith. “It’s barren, it looks like the middle of the desert in the Northern Territory, red soil, sometimes black soil, nothings growing, not even a blade of grass.”
She said the family were forced to reduce shower times and feared they would have to shoot and kill livestock if the situation got worse.
“Every farm that is in the district is in the same position, my family and I are no different to our next door neighbours, all facing the same outcome, we’ve got very little to go on, no money to fall back on,” Laura added.
Now, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has shown support for struggling farmers as he spoke in parliament on Monday, calling it the worst drought in New South Wales since the mid-1960s.
“Unlike a fire or a flood which inflicts immediate physical damage to people, property, homes and infrastructure, a drought is insidious, longer and more widespread. Farmers find themselves going to enormous expense just to keep livestock alive in the hope of rain. Physically working harder than ever and losing money all the time,” he explained.
“When nature throws its worst at us, it brings out the best in Australians. To our farmers, who grow the food we eat and the fibre we wear, we thank you for your tenacity and courage. And now, in these hard, dry times, more than ever, we have your back.”
Meanwhile, it’s not the first time Deveny has stirred up controversy with her outspoken posts on social media. However, while she usually leaves them live and stands her ground, it’s the first time she’s seemingly deleted one following backlash.
She previously sparked outrage when she posted a series of tweets on Anzac Day earlier this year that labelled soldiers and veterans as “ignorant” and “uneducated”. She also dubbed the annual remembrance day “Bogan Halloween” and claimed military service is “just a job”.
And the royal family didn’t escape her venom either, as the Melbourne-based comic aimed a tirade of criticism at the new Duchess of Sussex as she prepared to tie the knot with Prince Harry in a lavish ceremony at Windsor Castle.
She wrote: “Meghan Markle: I am a feminist… Also Meghan Markle: My father can’t walk me down the aisle and give me away so I have to have some man do it because I can’t possibly walk down on my own so my boyfriend’s father is going to do it.”
She then retweeted a post from another Twitter user, comparing the hefty price-tag of Meghan Markle’s bespoke Givenchy wedding gown to the amount it would have cost to upgrade the unsafe cladding on Grenfell Tower.
A deadly fire ripped through Grenfell Tower, in West London, on 14 June, 2017, tragically killing 71 people. It was revealed that the blaze spread more quickly than expected due to the combustible polyethylene-filled aluminium panels used to clad the building.