Anthony Mundine has made a controversial statement that has shocked and outraged fans. In a video posted by The Daily Telegraph following the Indigenous boxer’s sensational exit from the I’m A Celeb jungle, Mundine speaks seemingly approvingly of capital punishment for gay sexual acts, which he describes as a ‘problem’.
Mundine, an outspoken critic of the gay community, began by speaking about what he controversially claimed to be the ‘consequences’ of being gay in Indigenous culture.
He says, ‘If we were to live in a society, just like in Aboriginal culture, that homosexuality is forbidden and you do it and the consequences are capital punishment or death, you think you are going to do it? Or think twice about doing it?’
He further states, ‘That’s the only way to deter the problem.’
(There are a variety of attitudes to homosexuality in the indigenous community, and indigenous LGBT people are an increasingly prominent feature of the Sydney Mardi Gras.)
The 42-year-old athlete further added that paedophiles should face similar punishments.
‘Hang them suckers,’ he said, but clarified he was referring to ‘the paedophiles mainly’.
Mundine further implies in his controversial interview that gay rights could be linked to the possibile legalisation of paedophilia.
He claimed, ‘Because they are pushing these gay rights so much in the Western world, the paedophiles out there want their rights.
‘Now they are going to claim to have rights. They want their rights just like the gay people want their rights.’
Despite appearing to speak approvingly of capital punishment, Mundine confusingly claimed he didn’t care what people do in private.
‘I don’t care if you are gay or not, it doesn’t worry me because the creator will judge you later. If you are going to be gay, do it behind closed doors, that is how it used to be in the olden days.’
The boxer left I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here on Wednesday, revealing he wished to spend more time with his children.
Channel Ten has yet to comment on Mundine’s statements, although the network was widely slammed on social media for casting Mundine in the show after his long history of slating the gay community.