Former Labor leader Mark Latham has criticised Melbourne Cup winner Michelle Payne for choosing to use her moment of triumph to call out sexism in horse racing.
And naturally, it’s left many people, both males and females, fuming.
“These things normally stay in-house,” he said on The Verdict on Thursday night.
“In the excitement of winning the Melbourne Cup she’s excused anything, but it was certainly an unusual thing to talk about.”
Michelle, who was the first female to win the Melbourne Cup, described the sport of horse racing as “chauvinistic” in a post-match speech.
“I know some of the owners were keen to kick me off,” she said.
“To think that [trainer] Darren Weir has given me a go and it’s such a chauvinistic sport … I just can’t say how grateful I am to them.”
“I just wanted to say to everyone else [that] they can get stuffed, because they think women aren’t strong enough but we just beat the world.”
During the discussion, Latham told the panel he liked watching women’s sports “in some cases”.
“My favourite international sportsperson would be Serena Williams, because she is so outstanding,” he said.
“Whether people accept it or not, nature has given men greater physical strength, and in the sports where strength matters obviously the male players are a higher quality … spectators pay their money or watch TV, effectively giving up their time, they want to watch the very best.”
And this is what the spectators giving up their time to watch “the very best” on The Verdict thought about Latham’s comments.
