Australian online retail entrepreneur Ruslan Kogan has been asked to apologise after tweeting a transphobic joke on the international day of transgender visibility.
The millionaire founder of Kogan.com online retail store tweeted the joke comparing the number of Google searches about the Australian cricket team’s ball tampering scandal to those about celebrity Caitlyn Jenner on Saturday, after the press conferences of both Steve Smith and David Warner.
Numbers don't lie. On a global scale of ball tampering scandals, the current one doesn't even register. pic.twitter.com/cSgNaMpzly
— Ruslan Kogan (@ruslankogan) March 31, 2018
Saturday 31 March was International Transgender Day of Visibility, a day aimed at celebrating trans people and reducing discrimination.
According to the Australian Human Rights Commission, trans people are more likely to experience physical or verbal abuse than cisgender people, and are more likely to experience depression.
A 2012 study by Latrobe University found that 47% of trans men and 37% of trans women had experienced verbal abuse in the past 12 months.
A 2013 study by beyondblue found that trans people were four times more likely to have ever been diagnosed with depression than the general population. The study of about 900 trans and non-binary people found that 57% had been diagnosed with depression at some point in their lives, 54% in the past 12 months, and that 64% had experienced at least one form of discrimination or harassment.
Kogan has not retracted the tweet, despite critics pointing out that it was particularly offensive on this day.
“Ruslan, you may not know, but today is Trans Visibility Day and you’re hurting a lot of people doing this,” the futurist Mark Pesce wrote. “Please consider deleting these messages.”
ruslan, you may not know, but today is Trans Visibility Day and you're hurting a lot of people doing this. Please consider deleting these messages.
— Mark Pesce (@mpesce) March 31, 2018
delete this tweet and apologise mate this is fucked. on trans visibility day too. really bad taste dude
— Tongs Clodbill (@burgerdrome) March 31, 2018
Posting this, especially on transgender day of visibility, is in extremely poor taste.
— hey tutorial heads (@Nargacutie) March 31, 2018
Kogan, 35, founded Kogan.com in 2006 and remains the company’s CEO.
Recent increase in share value puts the company’s estimated worth at $800m, or twice that of legacy retailer Myer, the Australian Financial Review has reported.
Kogan’s personal stake is more than $300m.
He has previously described himself as a “smartarse”.
