Shareena Clanton
(Picture: Shareena Clanton/Instagram)Two Aboriginal-Australian TV stars have claimed to have witnessed or experienced racist incidents while working on the set of popular soap opera Neighbours.
The accusations from Meyene Wyatt, who starred as Nate Kinski, came as Shareena Clanton revealed that racial slurs during filming were so bad that one actor had to be removed from the set for a week.
The actor was then allegedly ordered to undergo cultural sensitivity training.
In an interview with the Guardian, after making her allegations public on instagram earlier this week, Ms Clanton claimed that when she protested to the cast member about the use of the “n” word, another peer stood up for them.
They argued that the word was commonly used in popular culture, she told the Guardian.
In her social media post she also alleged that it was not just a one off incident but “multiple racist traumas.”
“It’s been lonely, triggering and traumatising to work in such a culturally unsafe space,” Ms Clanton, who has guest starred in yet-to-be-aired episodes of the show, added.
Meyne Wyatt, who was the first indigenous actor to be added to the main cast when he appeared on the show from 2014 to 2016, said he too had experienced racism on set in a thread of tweets.
It saves time from me calling you a racist and humiliating you, if you don’t do shit the first place! And on top of that, the Homophobia that was present whilst I was on Neighbours, was fucking rampant! The comments and jokes and innuendos were ridiculous!
— Meyne Wyatt (@meynewyatt) April 6, 2021
In one tweet, he said: “Racism and Homophobia needs an active and present force behind it to be driven out! Neighbours do better. The Film and TV Industry do better. Australia do better.”
This is not the first time the show has been under fire for race-related issues.
Over the years it has been criticised for failing to reflect Australia’s ethnic diversity in its casting of actors.
In response to Ms Clanton’s allegations, the show’s producer, Fremantle Media, said it would do more to promote inclusion.
“Neighbours strives to be a platform for diversity and inclusion on-screen and off-screen,” a spokesperson for the media company told the BBC.
“Our quest is always to continue to grow and develop in this area and we acknowledge that this is an evolving process,” it added.
