In the midst of our femicide epidemic, someone at the Metro Comic Con sat down and thought, ‘let’s bring a domestic violence perpetrator to Australia’.
Edward Furlong – who appeared in the Terminator films – has a history of abusing partners. Yet somehow, he is not only allowed to enter Australia (I thought there were rules about criminals coming into our country), he’s also being platformed at a major event in Melbourne.
In 2012 and 2013, Furlong was arrested repeatedly for abusing his then partner. He went to jail for violating two restraining orders held by two former partners.
A plea deal for assaulting one partner ended with Furlong getting given five years probation, drug rehabilitation and a year of ‘domestic violence counseling’.
He was fired by one film production company for assaulting women but director James Cameron employed him to work on Terminator: Dark Fate.
The continued platforming of violent men in Australia is not fading. We’ve just watched pubs and media outlets across the country air the fight involving rapist Connor McGregor.
There’s a multitude of boxers, footballers and other sports blokes still getting sponsorships and media platforms.
Meanwhile, we have lost 37 women and 17 children to violence across Australia this year, with the majority of their deaths perpetrated by men known to them.
Many will say Furlong deserves a second chance and that you can separate the art from the artist.
But this is not true.
Every time a violent man is publicly platformed, we contribute to the normalisation of male violence. If he can bash his girlfriend and still be famous, then of course other violent men will abuse without fear of consequence.
Meanwhile, their victims may never come forward knowing there’s little to no consequences for people who harm them.
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