Former Bachelor star Dr. Matt Agnew has called out The Inspired Unemployed — made up of Jack Steele and Matt Ford — for their recent skit, claiming it was “punching down” on people with mental illness and substance abuse.
On Thursday, Agnew shared a video on Instagram, highlighting a major issue he had with The Inspired Unemployed’s latest skit.
“Just jumping on here with a quick, but also an important chat up front. I do enjoy the skits by the Inspired Unemployed lads, they’re really funny. However, saying that, their latest one isn’t it,” Agnew began.
“Comedy is important, but punching down is lazy. We should be destigmatising mental illness and addiction, not making fun of people who battle with it.”
In the skit, Steele is walking hand in hand with Eden Kannourakis before the camera cuts to Ford, who appears to be playing a character that seems to be under the influence or mentally distressed.
“Just don’t make eye contact,” Steele said to Kannourakis before she looked back at Ford, making eye contact.
The video then cuts to the pair doing everyday tasks, whilst being followed and disturbed by Ford’s character.
Shortly after posting the video, The Inspired Unemployed received a mixed bag of reactions to the skit. However, many people pointed out that the video was offensive to people who may be dealing with mental health or addiction issues.
Further in his video, Agnew said he was surprised that a large number of people were laughing at a skit that made fun of people struggling with these issues.
“I was staggered by the number of people in the comments who championed mental health awareness publicly but were taking glee in laughing at a skit that makes fun of the group of people who are battling the exact things they claim to be working to destigmatise,” Agnew shared.
Agnew went on to share that we should be advocating for all types of mental illnesses and that we must “work together to make change”.
“Let’s be clear, really clear, there aren’t some subset of mental illnesses that are in the ‘that’s not okay’ basket and are fair game for mockery and ridicule,” Agnew continued.
“If we want to help shine a light on mental illness, work together to make change, and better support those who have to battle with their mind every day, we don’t get to make an arbitrary distinction between illnesses which are serious and which ones we can laugh at.”
At the end of his video, Agnew clarified that he wasn’t trying to start a feud with the comedic duo, but just wanted to point out that this skit “was a miss”.
In the caption of the video, Agnew shared some data and facts about mental illness and substance abuse in Australia.
In 2023, Agnew opened up about his mental health journey, revealing to the Jessica Rowe on The Jess Rowe Big Talk Show that he started seeing psychologist when he was just 12.
In the extremely powerful interview, the former Bachelor star shared that he was diagnosed with clinical depression and was prescribed antidepressants. However, in 2021, he attempted to take his own life.
Towards the end of the interview, Agnew said he was in “good spot” at the moment, and that he has a strong support network in family and friends, as well as a medical team which includes a psychologist, psychiatrist and two GPs.
“My friends will rapidly deploy and assemble as soon as something is wrong,” he shared.
“They’ve definitely saved me. I’ve told them but I don’t know if they know sometimes how much they have.”
This isn’t the first time the Inspired Unemployed had copped some major backlash for their work. In April 2024, the duo landed themselves in hot water after they pulled a prank at Sydney’s Love Unboxed event, which featured a panel of Aussie feminists Antoinette Lattouf, Clementine Ford and Yumi Stynes.
At the time of writing, The Inspired Unemployed has not responded to Agnew’s video and the skit remains live on their social media.
PEDESTRIAN.TV has reached out to The Inspired Unemployed for comment.
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Image source: Instagram
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