Australian comedian Rhys Nicholson. | Photo: Facebook
Australian comedian Rhys Nicholson had his life allegedly threatened by a group of homophobes on a train in the southern city of Melbourne.
Nicholson described the terrifying experience on his Facebook which happened when he was on his way to a comedy gig.
‘Fun story. Last night someone told me they wanted to kill me,’ Nicholson wrote.
Nicholson described how four ‘regular looking well dressed people’ got onto his train carriage. Three of the men were in their twenties while the fourth was older.
One of the men did have rose tattooed on his neck and it was this man that started allegedly hurling homophobic abuse at the comedian.
‘When ol’ rose neck saw me he loudly said “you can always spot a faggot on Melbourne hey”,’ Nicholson wrote.
‘I looked up and rolled my eyes. He continued “it’s looking at me. If it keeps looking at me, something’s going to happen it”.
‘I looked down. He seemed a little more serious than they usually are.’
Even though Nicholson tried to diffuse the situation when he looked down, but the man kept getting more agitated.
‘He paced up and down the carriage for a few minutes and said directly at me “if there was no one here I’d bash you. Bash you to death”. This type of fun went on for about 10 minutes.’
The 27-year-old comedian was not the only person abused on the train and ‘an amazing woman with glasses on a chain told them to shut up’.
Marriage equality vote
But the men made it clear why they were annoyed and it had to do with the 2017 national postal survey on marriage equality.
‘As they got off the older guy announced that “the yes vote was allowing schools to teach young boys how to have sex with men”,’ Nicholson wrote.
Last year, the Australian Government decided to hold the non-compulsory and non-binding survey which asked if the law should be changed to allow same-sex couples to marry. Australians overwhelmingly voted ‘yes’, but the survey and surrounding campaign brought a lot of homophobia and transphobia to light.
‘I’m fine. That’s the problem. This shit is still so common that it barely phased me. It should phase me,’ Nicholson wrote.
The comedian argued that he did not blame Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull ‘for these people existing’.
‘I blame he and his government for giving them a voice. Thank you Malcolm for leading these horses to water,’ Nicholson wrote on Twitter.
