Waleed Aly to face off with PM in live TV interview

The Project host Waleed Aly was praised by many for his powerful monologue following the Christchurch terror attacks on Friday.

But someone who wasn’t a fan was Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who branded Waleed’s speech as “a disgraceful smear and an absolute lie” after the presenter mentioned some comments about Muslims that the PM had reportedly made in the past.

Now the Gold Logie-winning presenter and politician will sit down for a 30-minute interview tonight, which will be ‘live and commercial-free’ according to Channel Ten.

On Friday night, The Project aired a segment following the horrific Christchurch shootings, in which Waleed appeared to reference some of the PM’s comments reported back in 2011.

The presenter had said there’d been “media reports going back eight years at a shadow cabinet meeting in which another senior politician suggested his party should use community concerns about Muslims in Australia failing to integrate as a political strategy … That person is now the most senior politician we have”.

Waleed was referencing an article published on The Sydney Morning Herald in 2011 which detailed apparent comments Mr Morrison had made at a shadow cabinet meeting when he was the Coalition immigration spokesman under Tony Abbott.

Afterwards, The Project informed viewers that the PM had contacted the program in response to Waleed’s comments.

“Update: Scott Morrison’s office has contacted The Project to deny the 2011 report on comments he has alleged to have made within a shadow cabinet meeting,” read an update on the show’s official Facebook page.

And while reports then circulated that the Prime Minister was considering taking legal action against the TV star for defamation, this has since been denied.

“I have no intention of doing that; I just simply want people to report the truth and that is an ugly and disgusting lie. I reject it absolutely,” Mr Morrison told ABC TV.

“Over the last decade I have spent my time as a public figure working with the Muslim community in southwestern NSW.”

Viewers of The Project will be in for one solid debate tonight at 6:30pm on Channel Ten.

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