Comedian Marty Sheargold dresses up as a ‘Dubai mining magnate’ on Have You Been Paying Attention? and asks if cultural appropriation is okay ‘if you do it in the privacy of your own home’
Marty Sheargold posed a rather controversial question on Have You Been Paying Attention on Monday night: Is cultural appropriation okay if you do it in the privacy of your own home?
During the episode, the comedian and radio host, 49, shared a photo of himself wearing what appeared to be a traditional ethnic outfit.
He jokingly described his ensemble as that of a Dubai mining magnate.
Marty Sheargold posed a rather controversial question on Have You Been Paying Attention on Monday night: Is cultural appropriation okay if you do it in the privacy of your own home?
Marty explained: ‘That was me road testing a couple of ideas about cultural appropriation. Whether or not, and I’m asking everyone, it’s okay to do it in the privacy of your own home.’
He added: ‘I was going for a sort of a mining magnate, kind of Dubai feel.’
The joke drew a mixed response on Twitter, with some viewers saying it was funny while others thought it was ‘borderline’.
The comedian, 49, shared this photo of himself wearing what appeared to be a traditional ethnic outfit. He said: ‘That was me road testing a couple of ideas about cultural appropriation. Whether or not, and I’m asking everyone, it’s okay to do it in the privacy of your own home’
‘I’d ask why Marty is still allowed on television, but it’s @Channel10AU. We’re lucky he’s not the next Bachelor,’ one fan tweeted.
Another wrote: ‘Marty is making the same jokes as my dad and he’s not on TV for a reason.’
However, one supporter tweeted: ‘Marty knows how to bring the laughs.’
Mixed reception: The joke drew a mixed response on Twitter, with some viewers saying it was funny while others thought it was ‘borderline’
Cultural appropriation in its simplest form is when someone adopts something from a culture that doesn’t belong to them.
This can be a hairstyle, a style of dress or a way of speaking, for example.
Marty’s joke raised the question of whether cultural appropriation is actually harmful if nobody but the ‘appropriator’ knows about it.
Marty’s joke raised the question of whether cultural appropriation is actually harmful if nobody but the ‘appropriator’ knows about it