After fuelling a culture war over Grace Tame‘s new ABC podcast Autistic AF, Charlie Pickering is officially back tracking.
The ABC radio and TV host has clarified comments he made earlier this week about the broadcaster’s decision to work with the former Australian of the Year on a four-part mini-series about autism, after a clip of him calling the appointment “problematic” began doing the rounds online.
The saga kicked off when protesters gathered outside the ABC’s Melbourne office earlier this week, arguing the public broadcaster should not have hired Tame because of her pro-Palestine activism, including leading chants to “globalise the intifada” at a rally in Sydney earlier this year. During that protest, Pickering was approached by far-right commentator Avi Yemini, who pressed him on whether he believed it was appropriate for the ABC to platform Tame given his own Jewish background.
In the video, Pickering said he thought the ABC’s decision was “problematic” and spoke about how certain language used at rallies is received.
“I think, as a Jewish Australian, there’s a complete misunderstanding of a lot of the words that are said and what (the) true meanings of them are,” he said.
“A lot of people are using words and phrases that have meaning well beyond what they think they do. I think you could argue that a lot of people who jump on protest bandwagons are ignorant a lot of the time.”
Those comments quickly fed into wider criticism of Tame’s podcast, which focuses on the lived experience of autistic women and gender-diverse people and is being released under the ABC’s Ladies, We Need To Talk banner.
But by Thursday, Pickering was using his ABC Melbourne Drive program to stress that he did not oppose Tame or her role on the show. He told listeners he had been “ambushed by a known provocateur (Yemeni) and pressed into a conversation that was not planned and that I definitely had no intention of being a part of”.
“I would never have agreed or planned to be interviewed by that person, and to say so misrepresents me and the full context of the situation,” he added.
“More importantly than that, I am very disappointed that there is a suggestion I am against Grace Tame, or that she is not an appropriate host of a podcast about autism. This is simply untrue,” he said.
“I’ve always been a big fan of Grace Tame. She’s an outstanding advocate for those on the autism spectrum, for survivors, and for women, and for all of us.”
Pickering also noted that “reasonable minds will differ” on debates around Israel and Palestine, and said he was speaking only for himself in the footage with Yemini.
“From that, all manner of beliefs and positions have been projected onto me that are not true. But that’s on me,” he told his audience, reflecting that “context is in short supply these days and I should have known better” and that he had been “a little naive”.
For her part, Tame has said she hopes Autistic AF helps to “open hearts and minds” and shine a light on how autism presents in women and gender-diverse people, a cohort historically left out of both research and public conversation.
The ABC has defended the series and its collaboration with Tame, saying it has been working with her on the project since late 2025 and that the podcast’s focus is on neurodivergent lived experience, not foreign policy, while also stressing that it does not endorse her comments about the October 7 attacks.
Lead image: Getty
The post Charlie Pickering Walks Back ‘Problematic’ Swipe At Grace Tame’s ABC Podcast appeared first on PEDESTRIAN.TV .
