Brisbane radio station refers to Senator Fatima Payman as ‘slag’
An Australian radio station has apologised to Fatima Payman over a typo that turned a news headline into what the independent senator described as a “misogynistic slur”.
On Wednesday, 4BC Brisbane shared audio of Payman’s “skibidi speech” to Parliament, where she used Gen-Z and Gen-Alpha slang to slam the “rizless (charisma-less)” Prime Minister and take aim at his administration over AI regulation.
The clip from Bill McDonald’s morning show was posted to the station’s webpage, where the error became apparent.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.The headline on the story was meant to read: “Gen Alpha slang in the senate? Fatima Payman strikes again.”
But a typo meant it read: “Gen Alpha slag in the senate?”
Payman quickly picked up on headline, saying it was an “extremely offensive term”.
“Never, in 2025, did I ever expect to have this word used in relation to me, and I demand an apology,” Payman said.
“It is a misogynistic slur, and a terribly offensive one.”
The commercial talk station made an on-air apology, and management followed that up with a phone call.
The story has also been taken down.
“Due to an unfortunate spelling error, a headline regarding Senator Payman on 4BC’s website today contained a derogatory term,” a 4BC spokesperson said.
“This was an editorial mistake, and the article has since been removed.
“4BC has issued an on-air apology to Senator Payman and management has also made a direct and sincere apology to the senator and her team, which has been graciously accepted.”
Payman’s office confirmed the matter has now been put to bed.
It came a day after the WA senator addressed the ‘sigmas of Australia’ using language she said young Australians would be familiar with.
The short of her two-minute address was that the PM has no charisma and is out of touch, and she is not buying the government’s approach to AI.
“One of the issues I’ve been tweaking about lately is AI safety. Australia has the potential to be peak at implementing this technology safely, but at the moment, there’s more AI slop than a Deloitte report,” she said.
Originally published on 7NEWS
