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On Saturday night at a gig at the Duck Creek Picnic Races in regional New South Wales, Shannon Noll called out a man who threw a beer can on stage.
During the disgusting rant, the Australian Idol runner-up called the man a “f**king maggot,” a “cheapshot prick” and a “f**king private school stupid f**khead mother**ker.”
Then he said something truly disturbing: “I’ll f**k your missus and your mum.”
The comments aren’t just gross – they’re terrifying. And we shouldn’t forgive them.
“Hey, who’s that f**ker… whoever threw that, come up here. That f**ker in a tie, everyone look around, come on pretty boy, you’re a f**king maggot. Have some f**king balls to come up here … cheapshot prick. Hey, who thinks he should come up? Shame that prick, shame that mother**ker right there. F**king private school stupid f**khead mother**ker. Have some balls and get up here and I’ll punch your f**king teeth down your throat. Then I’ll f**k your missus and your mum.” – Shannon Noll
Last month, the country was devastated when Melbourne woman Eurydice Dixon was raped and murdered on a football field. Five days later, a woman was dragged into a car and raped by two men less than two kilometres away from where Dixon’s body was found. The same week, an 11-year-old girl was abducted and repeatedly raped over a period of five hours in Newcastle.
It is unacceptable for a man to threaten to rape a woman. Let me repeat that for Noll, the blokes in the crowd who cheered him on and the keyboard warriors on Twitter who congratulated him: it is unacceptable for a man to threaten to rape a woman.
Someone who shared the video of the violent outburst on Twitter wrote, “This video of Shannon Noll calling out a suited up bloke who threw a bottle at him before sliding into a cover of Horses is absolutely brilliant (and super loose).”
Wrong. The video, which has been viewed more than one million times, is absolutely appalling (and super horrific). Noll’s behaviour shouldn’t be applauded on social media; it should be fiercely shut down.
For someone with Noll’s profile to threaten violence against women on stage is dangerous – and his cop-out apology won’t cut it.
In a statement on his Facebook page, Noll, 42, tried to excuse his behaviour by saying having a bottle thrown at him was “scary.”
I can imagine it would be scary. But you know what’s scarier? Being threatened with rape.
Noll ended his “apology” by saying, “I completely understand that that is still no excuse for the way I spoke and I am deeply sorry for the terrible things I said that were purely out of frustration.”
I, for one, do not accept his apology.
Let’s not forget that Noll is a man with a history of violence. Last year he was charged with assault after an alleged incident with a bouncer at an Adelaide strip club. When Noll threatens to “punch your f**king teeth down your throat,” they’re not empty words.
Noll, who has just announced he is expecting his fourth child with his wife of 14 years Rochelle, needs to address his anger issues and lack of respect for women immediately.
He shouldn’t step on another stage until he learns how to professionally deal with a heckler. To do that, he should start by watching Hannah Gadsby’s stand-up show Nanette on Netflix.
During a live-performance of the show, a male member of the audience heckled Gadsby by shouting “Where’s the bloody jokes?” She swiftly shut him down. According to Twitter user Samara McCann, Gadsby addressed the man directly, calmly saying, “I don’t want you here. I’ll donate the money from your ticket to a charity that helps victims of domestic violence. Get out, mate.”
That is how you deal with a heckler – not by threatening to rape their loved ones.
Gadsby sums it up best, “[Anger] knows no other purpose than to spread blind hatred, and I want no part of it.” Stop spreading blind hatred, Shannon Noll.
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