Tuesday night's episode of American sitcom '2 Broke Girls' has angered Australians fans after a racist joke about Indigenous Australians was aired to more than 320,000 viewers.
The joke was made by a male character named Han who explained that he was pursuing online relations with an Australian woman. "She’s part Aboriginal, but has a great personality," he remarked.
It featured on the sitcom's season 4 episode titled "And the Fun Factory".
Facebook, Twitter and Reddit were soon awash with responses from fans angry at the joke:
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One woman on Facebook commented: "Wow! Just had a massive WTF moment while watching Two Broke Girls...I am absolutely disgusted! Channel 9, are you aware that you are airing a show that is blatantly racist?" While a user on Reddit said they wanted to "file a complaint with the Australian Human Rights Commission."
Former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was also unimpressed by the joke and called on the show's creators to apologise.
This isn’t the first time '2 Broke Girls' has found itself in the spotlight for the wrong reasons. The show previously faced backlash over a scene in which the all-white cast told Asian character Han: "You can't tell an Asian he made a mistake. He'll go in back and throw himself on a sword."
The sitcom was featured in online pop-culture site Complex's '"Top 50 most racist shows".
The program's creator, Michael King, has defended the program against allegations of racism, saying: "I feel no need pull away from the brand of '2 Broke Girls' which is 'in-your-face girls'. It is ballsy. It is right in your face and hopefully funny".
In an earlier interview, King stated: "I'm gay. I put in gay stereotypes every week! I don't find it offensive…I find it comic to take everybody down, which is what we are doing."
Channel 9, which aired the episode, had not yet issued a response to the incident.
