After asking a “rogue” question, pointing out that there is an alternative narrative to consider regarding the war in Ukraine from the mainstream version, a man was forced to leave the television studio.
QUICK FACTS:
- Audience member Sasha Gillies-Lekakis was kicked out of a live Australian debate show when he asked a “rogue” question.
- According to Summit News, Gillies-Lekakis expressed support for Russia’s actions in Ukraine while speaking to show host Stan Grant.
- Grant said that he was a “community leader” in Australia and said he didn’t appreciate the media “narrative” about Russia being the “bad guy.”
- Gillies-Lekakis was heckled by other audience members as Grant ignored his question.
- However the host came back to the question later and said that he “wasn’t comfortable” allowing the Russian-Australian to stay in the studio.
WHO SAID WHAT DURING THE EXCHANGE:
- “As someone who comes from the Russian community here in Australia, I’ve been pretty outraged by the narrative depicted by our media, with Ukraine as the good guy and Russia as the bad guy,” Gillies-Lekakis said.
- “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,” he added before going on to claim that Ukraine has previously “besieged” the Russian populations in Donetsk and Luhansk, killing around 13,000 Russians in the area.
- Following a discussion about potential justifications for the invasion of Ukraine, Grant came back to the questioner saying, “Something has been bothering me. People here have been talking about family who are suffering and people who are dying. Can I just say – I’m just not comfortable with you being here. Could you please leave? You can ask a question, but we cannot advocate violence. I should have asked you to leave then. It‘s been playing on my mind and, I’m sorry, but I have to ask you to leave,” the host said.
- Grant later stated “we can’t have anyone who is sanctioning, supporting, violence and killing of people. So I‘m sorry for the disruption. It was not a vetted question. It was a rogue question. It’s not good.”
BACKGROUND:
- Russia invaded Ukraine nine days ago in order to, in Putin’s words, “de-nazify” the region, making its slow march toward the nation’s capital.
- According to Russian news outlets, “Russia has been calling on Western nations to investigate cases of human rights abuse, illegal killings, and war crimes committed by the Ukrainian authorities that came to power after the 2014 coup.”
