Ernie Dingo lashes out after alleged racist comment at Perth train station
TV personality Ernie Dingo said he hit a man after an alleged racist slur at a Perth train station. Photo: ABC News
Acclaimed Australian actor Ernie Dingo says he confronted and “whacked” a man who allegedly racially abused him at Perth’s central train station.
Dingo posted about the incident on Facebook, which was then shared by Ngaarda Media and confirmed by his agent.
The racial slur allegedly came from a man in his 30s about 8am at the city’s central train station.
The Yamatji actor said the man had been watching him before the incident, before he called Dingo by an offensive and pejorative term referring to Aboriginal people.
“I chased him and scruffs him ‘Say it again’. He is scared now and I whack him on the right side of his head,” Dingo wrote.
Ernie Dingo, left, said he chased the man after he racially abused him. Photo: ABC News
“He slips and falls trying to get away, his foot falls between the platform and the train, I drag his arse away from the edge, as he is laying there.
“I ask again ‘Say it again, give me an excuse to whack you’, he doesn’t.
“If he is gunna say that s— to me, I’ll have a go at him.
“I’m 63, I don’t take that s— from anyone.”
‘He should have known better’, Dingo says
Dingo, who appeared in 1980s blockbuster film Crocodile Dundee II and more recently in television series Redfern Now and Mystery Road, said that once he boarded the train, a woman asked him if he was all right.
“I told her ‘He should’ve known better’,” he wrote.
“I might make the news tonight. I’m sure it was captured on CCTV.
“If it does, you heard it from me first and I wouldn’t have minded if I caught the next train, rather than not do anything about it and be angry on the train.”
PTA not referring incident to police
A Public Transport Authority spokesperson said CCTV vision would not be released, and that they would not be referring it to police.
“The PTA would not as a matter of course report an incident like this directly to WA Police,” they said.
“We would advise a complainant to formally report an incident to WA Police if they wished to pursue it further.”
WA Police said on Tuesday afternoon they had not received any complaints relating to the train station incident.
–ABC
