Conservative Rage Cancels Queer Comedian Tom Ballard
Outspoken Melbourne comedian Tom Ballard has his sights firmly set on the Liberal voting masses and guuurl has he pissed off a fair few people off in the process. Currently performing his 2021 Melbourne International Comedy Festival Show We Are All In This– his cutting wit was enough to see the ABC cancel his set as part of Melbourne International Comedy Festival Gala broadcast this year.
“I’m not saying Liberal voters are bad people. I’m saying they’re not people. They’re cold-blooded lizards ruining the country who should go back to the hell-mouth from where they came,” he said.
I have a new show for you called WE ARE ALL IN THIS and it's about how we all seem to be getting along very well at the moment. On sale now at the @micomfestival and @Syd_Comedy_Fest thank you x https://t.co/UPHJ86nsx8 pic.twitter.com/cCnsFCGtp2
— Tom Ballard (@TomCBallard) March 7, 2021
Doubling down on his unflinching attack, Ballard went on to reference COVID19 saying it “killed a lot of people in nursing homes – but I checked, and they were all Liberal voters… I hope you die; I hope you choke on your own franking credits, you evil greedy fascist soulless pig dogs.”
Angry? Yes. Misguided? Perhaps not- given the Liberal parties ineptitude being very much on display with the current vaccination roll out being completely screwed up. Though at least for the Liberal Party, this most current stuff up will at least give the party a little breathing space and provide a welcome distraction to Scott Morrison’s deplorable response to both historic and current allegations of sexual misconduct among Liberal Party ranks.
Ballard being cancelled was first picked up in The Age on April 6 th , but it didn’t take long for the conservative vultures to start circling above, with Andrew Bolt first to start picking at the carcass.
The following morning on April 7, an opinion piece emerged via the very credible Daily Telegraph, in which Bolt ‘boldly’ asked “Could any prominent conservative get away with venting such sadistic rage as Ballard did at the opening night gala of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival?”
The answer is likely yes- and they wouldn’t have been cancelled in the process either. On the subject of aged care and the ongoing Covid19 pandemic, Bolt was infamously quoted last year as saying that Covid-19 restrictions should be lifted because they are destroying the economy “to save aged-care residents from dying a few months earlier”.
Bolt continued his attack on Ballard, adding that “These are not jokes. These are paroxysms of hate, entertaining only to an audience that wants to hate, too.”
Another piece in the Daily Telegraph had the headline “Ballad Of A Binned Man,” inviting a quick quip from Ballard.
Pretty gutsy move to write a “this loser isn’t funny!!” piece with a pun headline pic.twitter.com/jeuQeM9GxC
— Tom Ballard (@TomCBallard) April 10, 2021
But can Ballard really be blamed for such unbridled hate towards a political party that has nothing but set back the LGBTQI communities time and again, such as that time they put us through that damaging plebiscite on marriage equality?
It appears cancel culture is alive and well, particularly when it suits the conservative right, and allows the big guns like Bolt and Murdoch to gang up on the likes of Ballard.
Not impressed and certainly not amused by Ballards idea of humour, neither funny or witty, just foul mouth and obnoxious with an obsession about being gay. Take his sexuality away from him and he’s a nobody.