Jessica Rowe has flame-grilled Eddie McGuire on TV this morning, with a 3-minute response to the Collingwood president's disgraceful comments about AFL journalist Caroline Wilson.
Speaking on Studio 10, Rowe's fellow panelists were silent as she tore down McGuire's history of trash comments around women and Indigenous Australians.
"Let's remember, this is a man who has a track record," she started, referring to McGuire's previous comments not only about dual Brownlow Medallist Adam Goodes but also about herself in 2008.
Rowe continued; “and now he is – with a bunch of boofy blokes – making light of holding a woman under water. Yes, it was a joke. But the thing is, there’s nothing funny about that. I think it’s time that people call him out. He is someone who I think is a protected species.”
The irony of McGuire's comments coming only days after the Giants and Swans played for the White Ribbon Cup, promoting the global movement opposing violence against women, was not lost on Rowe. She then added a theory from a similar organisation Our Watch; "Sexist jokes do have a consequence; they encourage a discourse around women that people think ‘oh well this is alright, it’s a bit of a joke’. They argue that then it can lead to violence."
For the three minutes, Rowe went in on McGuire, calling out the AFL for being "absolutely gutless" in their inaction around his comments, and ultimately putting forward that McGuire takes the $50,000 he said he would pay for someone to hold Wilson underwater, and donate it to charity.
Wilson herself has also written about McGuire's comments, saying they "took her back to the bad old days of The Footy Show."
While Rowe and others are wondering why he continues to get away with these comments, it seems the tide has turned against McGuire today. The question is how long will it last before it blows over and Eddie continues on his way?
