Comedian, author and radio host Meshel Laurie has today shared her unreserved opinion on convicted drug-smuggler-turned-apparent-Instagram-celebrity Schapelle Corby.
Speaking to her co-host Matt Tilley on her KIIS Matt & Meshel program this morning, Laurie expressed a similar sentiment to that shared by Today’s Karl Stefanovic: who cares?
“This country, I can’t even. If we’re going to make such a big deal out Schapelle – who smuggled drugs into Bali and went to jail and now she’s home. Who cares?” she said.
In particular, Laurie took issue with an Instagram post shared by Corby on Monday night, which showed the 39-year-old ‘mocking’ the media’s attempt to locate her.
“The video of her and Mercedes was so up herself,” she said. “Like, ‘we’re all watching the video on TV and everyone thinks we’re in those cars but really we’re here’.”
“I mean, who do you think you are? You think you’re Taylor Swift or something, balling in your hotel room? You’re a convicted drug trafficker who got out of jail.”
The radio presenter added, “Ivan Milat’s sitting somewhere thinking, ‘Christ, where’s my bloody Women’s Weekly exclusive?'”
“It’s just – come on Australia, grow up. Calm your tits. Are we really that sad that we’re now going to make Schapelle Corby a celebrity? Have you run out of molls from The Bachelor? Can’t we get proper celebrities again, people who are actually good at stuff?”
Listen: Is Cassie Sainsbury the new Schapelle Corby? Post continues after audio.
Interestingly, Laurie’s sentiment appeared much more directly leveled at Corby than other public commentators over the last few days. Karl Stefanovic focused more heavily on the media looking “like idiots” upon her return home, arguing, “She’s done her time and has the right to live her life in relative peace — if that’s what she wants. Maybe she wants mayhem. Whatever. I don’t care.”
Indeed, on the 39-year-old’s Instagram account, hundreds of comments have criticised the media’s obsession with her story.
But Laurie was adamant that Corby’s behaviour is part of the problem.
It’s a debate that’s unlikely to die down any time soon.
Top Comments
What a nasty, bitter radio host Meshel is. She really seems very bitter and angry at the world. Maybe she is jealous of the attention? I think Schapelle has every right to get back at the media, after the hell she has been through. So she seemed a bit smug.....who wouldn't, after they managed to come back undetected? I think it is only human nature, and only to be expected. I think Meshel's problem really is that she expected Schapelle to hang her head and act miserable and guilty, she WANTED to see a miserable and broken Schapelle. She isn't acting 'up herself', she is acting like any other normal person acts, and that us what frustrates Meshel. And because Schapelle is holding her head high and isn't crumbling, that is frustrating Meshel. She doesn't think Schapelle should feel happy, or should laugh, or have any enjoyment. She, like other media vultures, want to see a broken and miserable Schapelle, 'brought down a peg or two'. That is what this is all really about.
Sorry Meshel, deal with it. Schapelle has no reason to feel guilty about anything, and if anyone has earned the right to be a bit smug, it is her.
We've been glorifying criminals as heroes since settlement... with Ned Kelly, with Carl Williams, Chopper Reid, the over-romanticised Underbelly series that Australia is addicted to. Look at Cassie's family and fiance cashing in. Crime pays - that's crystal clear.