To recap, influencer Nadia Bartel lost contracts and reputation when a video of her snorting white powder at a 4pm ladies’ party went public. She endured schadenfreude scorn,was fined for flouting lockdown rules,was called a “moron” by former Victoria Police commissioner Kel Glare.
A week later,Seven News reporter Georgia Love lost her on-air job after she posted a photo of a cat in the window of a Chinese restaurant with a lame old trope of a caption:“Waitress or lunch?” She endured being stoned in the court of tabloid opinion,was exiled to a production desk for being racist,was called out by “completely bummed” MasterChef judge Melissa Leong.
I’m not defending illegal drug use – if indeed that’s what Bartel was doing – or racism. I’m asking whether the punishment fits the crime.
The suggestion that Chinese people can make a meal out of a wide variety of ingredients isn’t revolutionary or even untrue. And celebrities doing lines instead of fattening white wine – hold the front page while clutching your pearls.
I’m asking about double standards. I’m asking why Teflon men get to restore reputations and stay beloved while women who make dumb jokes and snort stuff in private are expendable.
Hugh Grant kept his career after soliciting a prostitute. Robert Downey Jr became Tony Stark after being arrested for speeding down Sunset Boulevard with heroin and a handgun. Shane Warne – where to start?