JENI O’DOWD: Marty Sheargold a victim of his own stupidity, not cancel culture

Marty Sheargold is a bald, overweight, middle-aged man with the comedic instincts of a house brick and the intellectual depth of a paddling pool.

He’s 53, but his wit never made it past 1985. He’s not exceptionally bright, nor is he remotely funny. But that’s fine to say, right? As I’m just joking.

Oh, wait — that’s not funny? Did I miss the mark? That happens when you mistake being a crude, dismissive dinosaur for humour.

And that is precisely what Marty Sheargold did on live radio.

In case you missed it, Sheargold likened the Matildas to a bunch of Year 10 girls, saying he’d rather hammer a nail through his penis than watch them play.

The Matildas — Australia’s most successful national football team, and the same team that broke TV viewership records and inspired an entire generation of young athletes.

As if that wasn’t enough, he also mocked endometriosis, a debilitating disease that affects one in seven Australian women, calling it “made up.” Because, of course, a middle-aged male radio host is the definitive authority on women’s health.

Triple M sacked him, advertisers bailed, and the backlash was swift. But naturally, some of the usual suspects jumped to his defence.

Cue former AFL player Sam Newman, the self-appointed guardian of free speech, wading in to defend Sheargold’s “right to an opinion”.

And then there was 2GB radio host Ben Fordham, trying to argue that Sheargold just “missed the goal”.

Because, you see, the real tragedy here wasn’t the misogyny or ignorance — it was that Marty simply wasn’t funny enough this time.

This is the same tired routine we see every time a man in media says something offensive about women: It was just a joke; cancel culture has gone too far or let’s blame the audience for being too sensitive.

This isn’t about one lousy joke. It’s about who you’re choosing to mock.

Comedy works best when it punches up — mocking the powerful, the corrupt, the elite. But Sheargold wasn’t mocking billionaires, politicians, or institutions. He was punching down at women’s sport and at young girls who dream of being elite athletes.

If you’re a man in media, sitting in a cushy radio booth, mocking women who have to fight for every scrap of respect in their field, you’re not edgy. You’re just pathetic.

Women’s sports have been battling for visibility, funding, and legitimacy for decades. The Matildas had to fight just to get equal pay with the Socceroos, a team that has never come close to their level of success. They still get less funding, fewer prime-time slots, and less media attention than their male counterparts.

That is, of course, until a female athlete is dressed up in evening wear for a glossy photo shoot — because nothing says “serious athlete” like being styled for the male gaze. Funny how we never see that happening to male sports stars.

So when a radio host with a national platform dismisses women athletes like they’re nothing, it reinforces the exact toxic culture that women’s sport is trying to break through.

And the endometriosis comment? That wasn’t just ignorant — it was dangerous. Because women already struggle to have their pain taken seriously in the medical world. Sheargold’s flippant dismissal feeds directly into a culture that tells women to “get over it” when they’re suffering.

When you’re a public figure with a platform, words matter. If you’re going to try for shock humour, you’d better know the difference between being provocative and being a prat.

Part of the problem is that his co-hosts laughed instead of calling him out. Women in sports need more coverage and male allies who will stand up for them.

Free speech is a fundamental right, but it’s not without limits. The ongoing debate isn’t just about the right to voice an opinion — it’s about the consequences that come with it.

When someone makes crude or dismissive comments, they often defend their words as free speech.

The real question is where to draw the line between expressing an opinion and engaging in rhetoric that warrants accountability.

Free speech doesn’t mean freedom from consequences, and as society evolves, so too does the expectation that words carry weight.

This shows why Marty Sheargold isn’t a victim of cancel culture. He was paid a lot of money to speak into a microphone, and he proved he wasn’t worthy of that privilege.

He didn’t get fired for a bad joke — he got fired because his joke revealed precisely what he thinks of half the population.

If that’s the best he can offer as a comedian, then maybe radio isn’t his calling. Or even comedy.

The real joke isn’t the Matildas. It’s not endometriosis.

The real joke is that men like Marty Sheargold still think they can get away with this nonsense in 2025.

And no one is laughing.