Meshel Laurie claims hacker wrote controversial blackface comment on her Facebook

Australian comedian Meshel Laurie has claimed her Facebook account was hacked over the weekend after a racist comment was left in her name about blackface.

The original post was shared by Twitter user Catherine Bouris, who wrote, "'Blackface has no cultural relevance in Australia' - Meshel Laurie, who I’m sure is an expert on the subject."

Fellow comedian Nina Oyama retweeted Catherine's post writing, "So it looks like Meshel Laurie officially came out of the Karen Closet today."

The comment in question read, "Blackface in American culture has a different context that reaches far further back than it does in Australia. Frankly, and this will be unpopular but it is true, 'black face' has no cultural relevance in Australia. The minstrel history of blackface is largely unknown in Australia.

"There are still golliwog dolls for sale in Australia. Please don't think you understand the nuances of Australian racism, or that we understand yours."

In a lengthy Facebook post, Meshel claimed her account had been hacked and was being investigated by Facebook. The comedian added that she was initially confused because she thought Catherine and Nina had "dredged up an old tweet" of hers.

"I didn't write this comment. I don't understand what's happened, but I didn't write it. I couldn't see it on my Facebook page," she said.

"I refreshed and refreshed and couldn't see it. I changed my password and was locked out altogether until this morning. I don't know. It's bizarre because it's honestly not even a crazy enough comment to seem 'hacked'.

"It just reads like an obnoxious basic-white-woman overstepping, so I get that it's believable, but I didn't write it.”

She added that the post was apparently posted at 1am on Saturday morning, when she was asleep.

"We’re still investigating with Facebook, but so far we’ve figured out it was posted at 1am on Saturday morning, when I was very much asleep. I don’t take sleeping pills, so I’m not pulling a Stilnox stunt, and I wasn’t drunk. I don’t think I’m a sleep-commenter either."

Meshel also apologised to the woman who had been tagged in the comment.

"I didn't write the comment but I'm not going to say any more about it, beg to be believed or fight with anyone about it because there's no point."

"I'm not worth your time. There's so much more important stuff to do. I'm embarrassed to my core but still exhilarated by this moment of international protest. I am not worth your time."

Her Facebook page has since been removed.

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