Comedian Rhys Nicholson subjected to homophobic abuse and death threats on train
The Australian comic was targeted by four men on his way to a gig.
Australian comedian Rhys Nicholson has opened up about being the target of homophobic abuse and death threats while on the way to a gig.
In a Facebook post shared last Friday (March 16), Nicholson recalled the moment one man threatened to “bash” him over his sexuality, the Daily Mail reports.
In the post, Nicholson states he was on a train heading to a local gig when four people began to verbally assault him.
The 27-year-old wrote: “Fun story. Last night someone told me they wanted to kill me.”
“I was sitting on a train into a gig with my headphones on when four people (three twenty somethings and an older guy) got on. They were regular looking well-dressed people except one of the young guys had a neck tattoo of a rose.
“Let a thousand blossoms bloom I guess,” he added.
“When ol’ neck saw me he loudly said ‘You can always spot a f*ggot on Melbourne hey’. I looked up and rolled my eyes. He continued ‘It’s looking at me. If it keeps looking at me, something’s going to happen [to] it’.”
Nicholson continued: “I looked down. He seemed a little more serious than they usually are. He paced up and down the carriage for a few minutes and said directly at me ‘If there was no one here I’d bash you. Bash you to death’.
“This type of fun went on for about 10 minutes. As they got off the older guy announced that ‘The yes vote was allowing schools to teach young boys how to have sex with men’. Again, they were well-dressed regular looking people.”
He added: “I’m fine. That’s the problem. This shit is still so common that it barely phased me. it should phase me.”
Nicholson then took aim at Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who chose to put equal marriage down to a public vote last year.
Nicholson slammed Turnbull for giving homophobes a platform to espouse bigoted views, writing: “I blame he and his government for giving them a voice. Thank you Malcolm for leading these horses to water.”