Melbourne 7News reporter and former “The Bachelorette” star Georgia Love has apologized for posting a racist Asian joke to her Instagram story, News AU reports. The joke and subsequent apology have since disappeared from her Instagram story.
Love first came under fire for posting an Instagram video of a cat in the window of a Chinese restaurant, The Daily Mail reports.
“Shop attendant or lunch?!” Love wrote in her caption, referencing the racist stereotype that Asian people eat cats.
She drew heavy criticism from Asian Australians online.
Her offensive story also sparked the resurfacing of a racist meme she had posted in 2013. The meme shows a photo of an animal hospital next to a Chinese restaurant. Underneath the photo, a cartoon dog says, “That’s suspicious.”
Georgia Love posted this in 2013 with the caption ‘Best’. Yesterday, she posted a video of a Chinese restaurant with a cat in the window captioned, ‘Shop attendant or menu item? 😂’
— Tarang / तरंग (@tarang_chawla) September 7, 2021
She expects us to believe there was no racial component behind the “joke”. Hmm, nah, sorry. pic.twitter.com/sZtGuZz72s
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After receiving criticism, the broadcaster posted an apology to her Instagram story. She denied that the post was meant to be offensive but apologized if it came across that way.
“Earlier I posted a video of a cat in a restaurant window,” she wrote in her apology. “I meant for this to be a joke about an animal being in a restaurant at lunch service time. I meant absolutely no insinuation about the type of animal nor the type of restaurant, but I see that my post did not come across like that and was offensive.”
Vietnamese-Australian and anti-Asian hate activist Alyssa Ho criticized Love’s denial of racist intent. In an Instagram story now posted to her highlights, Ho called the denial a lie.
Master Chef Melissa Leong expressed her disappointment and hurt over the story. She said she was not angry, but “bummed.”
Melbourne 7News has launched an investigation into the post, The Daily Mail reports. The meme has been deleted from Love’s Instagram profile. Love posted the racist video and subsequent apology to her Instagram story, which means after 24 hours they disappeared.
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