Hip-hop artist MUDRAT used Triple J’s video series Bars of Steel to deliver a blistering critique of the ABC’s coverage of the Israel-Gaza war and its treatment of Antoinette Lattouf.
The federal court found in June the ABC breached the Fair Work Act when it terminated the casual broadcaster for reasons including that she held a political opinion opposing the Israeli military campaign in Gaza.
On Thursday night’s program on the youth radio station the Australian artist MUDRAT donned a Palestinian keffiyeh to perform a rap written for the show Bars of Steel, which features live studio performances by rappers.
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“Shoutout Antoinette Lattouf, my career’s in a noose, but I’ll take a blacklist over censoring the booth,” he sang.
“There’s blood on these walls for the lies that it spewed.”
Speaking to the host of the program, A.Girl, after his near three-minute performance, MUDRAT said he was using the platform he had been given to be honest about his views.
“And so being in this [ABC] building today, you know, understanding sort of the complexities of the last few years, it was important that we spoke to truth,” MUDRAT said.
“What is the truth? That this is not a conflict that is occurring, that this is a genocide, and so we use our music to speak to the truth.”
The song included the chant “Israel is committing genocide” and “free Palestine”.
The ABC uploaded his performance to all its platforms as well as broadcasting it on Triple J’s Bars of Steel program which showcases established and emerging rappers.
The performance has been streamed thousands of times, with more than 100,000 views on Instagram, and the comments are overwhelmingly positive and include many saying it was “brilliant”.
“Bruuuuuh calling out the ABC on the ABC is fire,” said one fan on YouTube.
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“The MUDRAT track was reviewed before being published,” an ABC spokesperson said. “The track was preceded by an on-air content warning, which was also published in the video description on YouTube, and additional resources were allocated to moderate triple j social accounts.
“Artists from all genres use their art to express their views on political, social and cultural issues and current events. The ABC has a fundamental responsibility to ensure space for freedom of creative expression through music and we’re committed to upholding this for artists from all backgrounds and viewpoints.”
The rapper also sang about a historic incident in 1990 when the station was ordered to stop playing the hip-hop anthem Fuck The Police and instead played the song on repeat for 24 hours.
“You stood against censorship, stood against executives,” MUDRAT sang. “But where do you stand now Triple J?”
The latest report from the ABC Ombudsman says war and conflict in the Middle East is the most complained about subject matter, broadly categorised as 50% (422) pro-Palestine and 45% (378) pro-Israel.
