Jacinta Price receives a formal apology from Lisa Wilkinson’s boss at Channel 10
Channel 10 boss Lisa Wilkinson apologizes to Indigenous Minister Jacinta Price after the star struggled to pronounce her name and likened her choice to hiring a black cleaning lady
Shadow Minister for Indigenous Affairs Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has received a formal apology from Lisa Wilkinson’s bosses at Channel 10 after The Project presenter struggled to pronounce her name and compared her pre-selection to hiring a black cleaning lady.
The comments were recorded during a luncheon between Wilkinson, Brittany Higgins, her partner David Sharaz and Channel 10 producer Angus Llewellyn in January 2021.
‘[The Liberal Party] has shortlisted over twenty new and wonderfully diverse and powerful candidates, like “And what’s her name, Nam… Nampinjumba?” [sic]. “She is an Indigenous woman,” Wilkinson was heard saying in an audio clip obtained by Sky News.
Mr Sharaz laughed and said: ‘She obviously got on. Obviously it was a safe seat.”
“That’s the thing, it was — as I looked at it, I was like, ‘Oh, you’re kidding,'” Wilkinson replied.
Mr Llewellyn then joked about the Coalition’s pre-selection of Ms Price, saying: “Look, we know brown people.”
Mr Sharaz chimed in: “It’s like, ‘I’m not a racist. I have a black boyfriend” — that’s that argument.”
The former project moderator then added, “And our cleaning lady is black.”
Paramount executive vice president of Australia and New Zealand Beverley McGarvey personally called Senator Nampijinpa Price to apologize on behalf of the network.
The apology was made on behalf of the network, but not by Wilkinson.
Daily Mail Australia understands Senator Price has accepted the apology.
There’s more to come.
Lisa Wilkinson (pictured Mr Sharaz) was caught joking about the name of Shadow Minister for Indigenous Affairs Jacinta Nampijinpa Price in an audio recording