SBS has distanced itself from a viral Instagram skit by Lisa Jane Spencer that mocked Aboriginal Australians and used its Insight logo, saying the post and the person behind it were never associated with its content and had been reported. The public rebuke came after the video spread online and drew immediate criticism for portraying First Nations people as a punchline.
The post is being searched now because it landed in the middle of a wider backlash over racist stereotypes, and SBS felt compelled to respond after its branding was used on the clip. Spencer, who has described herself as a comedian, shared a skit about “transitioning” into an Aboriginal Australian and said, “I’m Aunty Lisa. I started identifying as a blackfella a few months ago,” while the video showed her dancing barefoot in a yard, hitting sticks together in white face paint and ending with her pretending to sniff a red gasoline canister.
SBS said it was aware of the posts and the unauthorised use of its logos, and said the material was in no way tied to its work. The broadcaster also said it “unequivocally condemns all forms of racism” and warned that such views have no place in Australian society. By Monday night, the damage was already done: the clip had raced across social media, and the logo in the top right corner gave it a borrowed authority it did not deserve.
That is what drew Brooke Blurton in. She said she was “sick of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people being the brunt of the joke,” and argued bluntly that “it’s not humour. It’s a racist stereotype that First Nations people, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, have been facing for generations.” Blurton also said the video’s reach mattered because “words matter, and content matters,” adding that when someone with a platform repeats harmful stereotypes, it contributes to discrimination already faced every day. She urged followers to report the video and not engage with it, while Travis Lovett also called it “disgusting” on his personal Instagram.
What remains unclear is whether any further action will follow against Spencer or the post itself. SBS has made its position plain, but the unanswered question is whether the platform, or anyone else, will treat the skit as more than a viral outrage and respond in a way that stops the logo and the stereotype from being used again.
