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Waleed Aly Criticized For Comments During Logies Acceptance Speech

By Stacey Cole
Published on: 05:08 PST, May 16, 2016

Waleed Aly complaining about racism while holding the Gold Logie for Best Personality on TV at Logies 2016 last weekend was “ludicrous,” according to Andrew Bolt, as reported by the Herald Sun. And seeing Noni Hazelhurst complain about women not being treated right was “silly,” considering the fact she was inducted into the Logies Hall of Fame.

But wouldn’t it be better to say “thank you” instead of criticizing and complaining, Andrew Bolt, a controversial contributor to the Herald Sun, asks in his article, hinting at both Waleed Aly and Hazelhurst.

“And wouldn’t a tribute to Australia have been more appropriate than all this childish displaying of wounds that seem to be not even the barest of scratches?”

After Waleed Aly’s comments during his acceptance speech for the Gold Logie, the audience broke into wild rounds of applause. Yet, there are some in the media, like continually controversial media personality Andrew Bolt, who claim the fact that one Muslim person won a major award in Australia automatically means that Muslims and people that come from the Middle East are not oppressed in Australia.

Australian blogger Mariam Veiszadeh mentioned Australian personality Barry Humphries’ appearance on The Project only weeks earlier, in which he ridiculed Waleed Aly for his middle eastern appearance and called him “Little Wally.”

“I have to tell the viewers, that he really does look like this. He does! It’s not a trick of the lights.”

And according to Yahoo Entertainment, the “Dame Edna” personality later called Aly’s Gold Logie win “very disappointing.”

In his statements, Andrew Bolt insinuated that Waleed Aly was representative of the treatment of all Muslims in Australia by being appointed to the board of the Australia Council by the Labor government and appointed as an on-air presenter on the ABC and Channel 10.

During his speech, Waleed Ali admitted that he understands that his win means a lot to other people and that he doesn’t take his position lightly, according to Nine MSN.

“There have been a lot of people in the last week or two who’ve made it really, really clear to me that me being here really mattered to them.”

Aly went on to imply that because of his win, he feels confident that the situation in Australia can change.

“To… everyone else with an unpronounceable name… I’m incredibly humbled that you would invest in me in that way, but I’m also incredibly saddened because you deserve more numerous and worthy avatars than that… If tonight means anything it’s that the Australian public, our audience, as far as they’re concerned – there’s absolutely no reason why that couldn’t change.”

And while most Australians and Muslims were left impressed by Waleed Aly’s acceptance speech at the Logies 2016, radical extremists don’t seem too happy about the TV presenter’s win, according to the Australian News.

A radical extremist Islamist group, Hizb ut-Tahrir, voiced their outrage over Waleed Aly’s Logie win, saying Aly could no longer find “an adequate home in Islam.” In fact, a spokesperson for the extremist group, Wassim Doureihi, believes Muslims shouldn’t be celebrating the TV presenter’s win.

In his Facebook post, the spokesperson said Australians have been dividing Muslims into “good” and “bad.” “Good” ones support secular democracy, while the “bad” Muslims support ISIS-like Caliphate, Doureihi wrote, adding that Waleed Aly is one of the “good” ones.

Doureihi added that the “good” ones will soon “start to look down upon the very people they originally sought to assist.” And the spokesperson for Hizb ut-Tahrir thinks Waleed Aly’s Logies win is a cause for commiseration rather than a cause for celebration.

“To Waleed, for being a victim of the government’s self serving identity politics, and for the Muslim community, in failing people like Waleed by making secular politics look more appealing than Islamic politics.”

However, Doureihi added at the end of his post that he has no personal grudge against Waleed Aly, saying that the TV presenter is a “thoroughly intelligent and respectable” man who has “the utmost integrity.”

[Photo by Scott Barbour/Getty Images]

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