Just as this year’s Oscars were #SoWhite, the line-up for the publicly-voted Gold Logie her in Australia is usually a vanilla-fest of the usual suspects.
It’s generally jolly morning-TV hosts (think Karl Stefanovic), Australia’s sweethearts (think Kate Ritchie, Asher Keddie) or venerable and beloved stars (think Ray Meagher, John Wood), all of whom are distinctly… white.
In fact, scrolling back through past winners, it’s a total whitewash from Steve Vizard to Rove McManus, apart from the four-year dominance of Ray Martin in the ’90s (Martin’s great, great grandmother was an Indigenous Australian woman).
This year, the line-up is just slightly more diverse, which makes it actually the most diverse line-up ever.
SBS’s Lee Lin Chin and The Project‘s Waleed Aly have both been nominated this year, along with the excellent Essie Davis, the tiny Grant Denyer, the ubiquitous Carrie Bickmore, and Scott Cam.
Unfortunately, the Today Show team made some casually racist remarks about the Gold Logie line-up:
"I might look white on the outside but I’m dark on the inside," Stefanovic, a former Gold Logie winner said to Ben Fordham.
"I know you are, and with that spray tan you’re dark on the outside too," replied Fordham. "Where is Lisa Wilkinson’s Gold Logie?"
"Lisa’s too white," Stefanovic said.
"I got a spray tan and everything and still didn’t make it," said Wilkinson.
...
Meanwhile Lee Lin Chin's excellent Twitter account (written by her The Feed colleague Chris Leben) predicted this last year.