From the [Sydney, Australia] Daily Telegraph (links below):

Australian television personality Paul ‘Fatty’ Vautin (left), host of a popular rugby program on MSN’s national Channel Nine network, stirred controversy last week with disparaging on-air comments about a hotel bouncer he said was drunk. The family of bouncer Greg Stacey said he has speech and learning difficulties caused by a disability related to epilepsy.

The network offered an apology, and Vautin said he would never deliberately ridicule a person with a disability because he had an older brother with Down syndrome. Then, in an ironic twist, Vautin’s brother with Down syndrome, Geoffrey Vautin, died Monday night after a short illness.

Stacey’s family said they intend to seek legal action against the network.

Another broadcaster and former “Footy” host says the show habitually targets people with disabilities and alcohol problems as the butt of ridicule.

• Footy Show makes disabled drunk slur
• Footy Show ‘seeks easy victims’
• Fatty’s Down Syndrome brother Geoffrey Vautin dies
• Bouncer’s family will still sue Fatty Vautin despite brother’s death

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 17th, 2008 at 8:23 am and is filed under celebrities, Down syndrome, epilepsy, learning disabilities. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.