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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
National
Hamish Morrison

'Right-wing shock jock' deletes tweet using Greta Thunberg's autism 'as insult'

A CONTROVERSIAL TV host has been branded a “vile right-wing shock jock” after appearing to use Greta Thunberg’s autism as an insult against the climate activist.

Julia Hartley-Brewer, a host on Rupert Murdoch’s TalkTV, sided with Andrew Tate, a media personality who has repeatedly been accused of misogyny, in a Twitter spat between him and the 19-year-old climate activist.

Tate, who has previously said rape victims “must bare some responsibility” for crimes committed against them, tweeted at Thunberg on Tuesday boasting about the number of cars he owns and suggesting he would send her a list of his collection and “their respective enormous emissions” by email.

Thunberg then responded: “Yes, please do enlighten me. email me at smalldickenergy@getalife.com”. 

Hartley-Brewer, who had not been mentioned in the exchange, then waded in.

In a now-deleted tweet, she wrote: “I'd choose Andrew Tate's life *every single time* over the life of a half-educated, autistic, doom-mongering eco-cultist. And the only car I own is a diesel Tiguan.”

She has since reposted the reply, removing the word “autistic”, explaining: “I've deleted my previous tweet that mentioned Greta's autism because - although I only referred to it because she states it in her own Twitter biog - people decided to take offence at a fact.

“Even though they had no problem with this woman calling a man "small dick". Yawn.”

The left-wing columnist and activist Owen Jones shared a screenshot of the deleted tweet with the caption: “Julia Hartley-Brewer deleted her tweet in which she spat out ‘autistic’ as an insult, but the internet never forgets.

“Just like Tate, it must really rile Hartley-Brewer that this 19-year-old autistic woman has achieved so much, and isn’t just some vile right-wing shock jock.”

In reference to Hartley-Brewer’s staunch stance as a gender-critical feminist, he added: “Julia Hartley-Brewer is one of the leading proponents of the idea that trans rights is a misogynistic threat to women. Yet she sides with Andrew Tate over Greta Thunberg.

“The ludicrousness of the transphobic moral panic helpfully summed up for us all.”

Make Me Prime Minister star Kelly Given, who is austistic, said: "Julia Hartley-Brewer is hardly a stranger to a terrible take but her use of ‘autistic’ as a slur was exceptionally irresponsible."

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