Aussie TV hosts public showdown: ‘You’re a racist’

Former friends and TV co-hosts have been involved in a public spat on social media following a string of allegations which involved one calling another “a racist.” The explosive confrontation snowballed. Here is what happened. The pair, who appeared together on the music show back in 2006, came to blows after Whitehead posted a picture of a yellow tile with the caption #asianlivesmatter. Agolley initially called Whitehead out in the comments on the picture, which has since been deleted. “Axle Whitehead is a racist,” she wrote in a subsequent post on her own social media, sharing the private exchange. “Posted a yellow tile with the hashtag Asian Lives Matter thinking it’s a joke. he then blocked me when I didn’t take my public post down after I called him in four times. His final post in defence of his ‘joke’ was a screen grab of a false stat from Twitter about white men being killed by US police more than any other race. That’s it. That’s all he had. No mention of stats (if real research was had) but was much research done on Video Hits?” When contacted, Whitehead explained that he had been shocked to see the riots unfold in the US following the tragic death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. Earlier this week, the music industry started a global movement of people sharing black tile images on social media with the hashtag #blackouttuesday as a way of reflecting on the issue. “My sympathy goes to George Floyd and his family but to say Black Lives Matter as people loot and burn minority owned businesses is absurd,” Whitehead, who was a regular on Home And Away and Neighbours after Video Hits, said. “Nearly all the people killed by rioters are black and nobody says a word about them. Enough with the virtue signalling, it’s not a part of the solution. I can’t support a violent hypocritical movement. All Lives Matter. Period.” Agolley, when contacted, stood by her claims. “There’s a lot of Aussies in a space of learning about racism on a deeper level right now while black people in this country are hurting and wanting genuine solidarity, and then there’s Axle who wants to take his opinions further,” she said. “He took a deliberate choice not to get behind black lives and take a shot at Asians. I called him in and he didn’t care about what he did, he only cared about being called on it. One of the ways we can have meaningful change is when we call in our family, mates and co workers when they act up, no matter how uncomfortable it may be.”