10’s Peter Van Onselen and advocate Grace Tame got into a Twitter feud last night which led to Onselen disclosing he’d been sexually assaulted as a child.
Onselen and Tame got in a Twitter back and forth that spanned hours last night. It was the kind of feud that felt like there were no real winners.
It all kicked off when Tame accused Onselen of, “co-opting other survivors’ experiences.”
Onselen then revealed after some back and forth he was a victim of child sexual abuse, Onselen tweeted, “You have made me say this which is incredibly distressing but there you go.
“The police knew of three other boys he raped who didn’t want to testify. I was one of them. Please stop.”
https://twitter.com/TamePunk/status/1509505758001766403
Tame responded with, “I was going off your words” and included a screenshot where Onselen had previously declared he wasn’t sexually assaulted.
Then Tame asked Onselen to, “leave me alone.”
https://twitter.com/TamePunk/status/1509516326351814657
Tame then tweeted this morning, “Every survivor of rape and abuse deserves to be heard and receive compassion. Every single one.
“Trauma, however, doesn’t excuse bad behaviour. It is not a weapon of provocation or oneupmanship to deploy in the face of others at your convenience, especially not fellow survivors.”
https://twitter.com/TamePunk/status/1509669097759723523
Onselen and Tame have a history of not getting along, Onselen criticised Tame for not smiling at Morrison. Onselen is also facing allegations that he bullied 10 reporter Tegan George. So it’s a pretty full-on time for him and while Twitter feuds have a history of being more silly than anything else this particular one was nothing short of gut-wrenching.