Well done to all of you who took a stance and pushed back against anti-cycling rants that went too far. If we sit back and don’t bother responding in an constructive manner, it will allow people to take things further and further until it’s truly out of our control. Thanks for raising your collective voices.
Magda’s anti-cyclist rant sparks chain reaction
NATALIE PUCHALSKI from The AGE
ONLY weeks after she was on the receiving end of a Kyle Sandilands slur, Magda Szubanski is at the centre of her own controversy, following an anti-cyclist tirade on Tuesday night’s Good News Week.
In a segment where guests can rant about what irritates them, Szubanski expressed her frustration towards lycra-clad cyclists on Beach Rd, prompting an inundation of angry comments on blogs and websites.
The TV host and comedian started by saying she was fed up with cyclists riding for exercise — “a four-lane highway is not your gym”.
However, Szubanski and fellow comedian Julia Morris struck a chord with cyclists, after suggesting motorists should “just drive and take them out”, “open the [car] door!”
Wade Wallace, who runs cyclingtipsblog.com, said although Szubanski’s jokes about sweaty lycra were “taken in good humour”, the comedian “crossed the line” when she talked about injuring cyclists on the road.
“I think every cyclist out there is probably about one or two people removed from knowing someone who has been killed or is in a wheelchair… That’s where it hits home pretty hard.”
Magda Szubanski said she was “so sorry that the skit on bikers has caused offence”.
“We all make mistakes and the point is that hopefully we learn from them. Clearly my joke was stupid and insensitive but perhaps it has brought to light that there are frustrations amongst cyclists and motorists.”
“Hopefully some good will come of this and it will help promote useful dialogue between the two groups,” she said.
“As a gesture of solidarity I have offered to participate in the National Ride to Work Day on October 14. Apologies again … and, yes, I will be wearing lycra.”Szubanski, the face of a weight-loss company, was the recent subject of a tirade by Sandilands who told his radio-show listeners she’d have more chance of losing weight in a concentration camp.
