See if you can finish the following sentence. Guy Sebastian is one of Australia’s most talented and highest-profile ….

Did you say “singers”?  

Did you say “entertainers”?  

You might even have said that Guy Sebastian is one of our most talented and highest-profile “Australian Idols”.

All of those answers would seem reasonable, even obvious. Competing on Australian Idol is how Sebastian came to national attention. Singing is what he does.

But apparently these are not the first things that come to mind if you are a journalist with the national broadcaster.

When the ABC’s  Jason Om tweeted Thursday that Sebastian’s manager had been arrested for allegedly defrauding him, the 7.30 journalist wrote: “One of Australia’s most talented and highest profile POC should not have been treated this way.”

There is exactly zero evidence that the alleged fraud had anything to do with the colour of Guy Sebastian’s skin. But Jason Om looks at a story about alleged financial deception and immediately sees race.

He makes the connection faster than you can say “why the hell are my taxpayer dollars being used to divide me against my neighbour?”

And what if Guy Sebastian was not a person of colour? Is fraud more acceptable if the victim is white?

The ABC’s obsession with race is not just unhealthy, it’s pathological. And it is why we must regard most journalists at the ABC as activists rather than professionals.

Guy Sebastian is a highly talented musician – nothing to do with skin colour. His former manager allegedly defrauded him – nothing to do with skin colour. 

That’s the news – nothing to do with the ABC.

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