AUSTRALIA
ABC News
A Jesuit priest and human rights lawyer has accused Tim Minchin of endangering the integrity of the royal commission into sexual abuse after the comedian penned a song describing George Pell as “scum” and inviting the Cardinal to “come home and frickin’ sue [me]”.
Father Frank Brennan has warned that turning the commission into a “laughing stock” runs the risk of derailing proceedings.
“I don’t think it’s altogether helped by having songs about a key witness, calling him scum, and a buffoon, and a coward and that sort of thing before the commission does its task,” Father Brennan told ABC’s the Drum program.
“Because if we turn it into a laughing stock, then the big losers … will be the victims themselves.”
But some survivors have already expressed anger at the royal commission for allowing the Cardinal to give evidence from Rome, rather than returning to Australia.
Minchin is donating the proceeds of the song, called Come Home (Cardinal Pell) to a GoFundMe page set up to send 15 representatives, including survivors, to Rome to witness Pell’s testimony in person.
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