Married at First Sight Australia 2022‘s Ella Ding is facing backlash from fans for using an offensive ableist slur.
Content Warning: This article will discuss offensive, ableist language. This may be triggering to some readers.
The 29-year-old podcast host was speaking candidly to her Instagram followers about UTIs and taking antibiotics when she panned across to her cats and described them as “spastics”, a derogatory term for spastic diplegia which is a form of cerebral palsy.
“On another note, my cats are now being spastics and I’m just waiting for Normi and were’ gonna have some Pho and I’m gonna get off my phone,” she said. Big yikes!
And yep, that is Ella not-so-subtly dropping her new BF into the conversation.
So Dramatic! previously revealed his name is Guy Palermo and So Dramatic! podcast host Megan Pustetto labelled him a “normi” during her coverage of their relationship as he has no affiliation with reality TV and is therefore considered ‘normal’. It appears Ella has adopted the phrase as a sort of nickname for him.
Anyway, back to the problem at hand…
MAFS‘ Ella Ding faces backlash for using an ableist term
Ella’s “inappropriate” Instagram Story has since been reshared online with fans calling out her offensive language.
“Whoa, surely we are past the days of using the term “behaving like spastics”. Really not passing any vibe test here. 1978 called and wants its inappropriate insults back Ella,” one person anonymously captioned Ella’s video in the So Dramatic! Podcast Communi-tea Facebook group.
“That’s disappointing. I thought we all knew not to use this word as a slur,” one person commented on the post.
“I also doubt she would bother to take it down and apologise either given her and Dom’s [Domenica Calarco] history with ignoring these problematic things,” another wrote.
“Disappointing…. But not surprised,” a third person quipped.
Another simply wrote: “Problematic queen”.
However, some seemed aware of the term’s origins and claimed anything Ella said “would have been criticized”.
One person acknowledged they were in the minority by prefacing their comment with “probably an unpopular opinion”.
“I just feel like so many of these “influencers” will get backlash no matter what comes out of their mouth,” they wrote to which someone replied: “This is an ableist term. I doubt anyone with CP [Cerebral Palsy] would be impressed.”
Just last year, popstar Lizzo was called out after she used the word “sp*z” in her song ‘Grrrls’. She has since apologised and re-recorded the track.
Similarly, last year, Beyoncé used the words “spaz” and “spazzin’” in her song ‘Heated’, which was co-written by Drake. She also removed the word after intense criticism.
At the time of writing, Ella is yet to address the backlash or apologise for the slur.
What controversies has MAFS‘ Ella Ding been embroiled in?
As fans so eloquently put it, Ella’s ableist slur doesn’t exactly come as a surprise.
Since leaving the show, the pair who host the Sit With Us podcast, protected and lied for Love Island Australia 2022’s Al Perkins, 26, following backlash he was dating 17-year-old TikTok star Hope Kelesis.
So Dramatic! has reached out to Ella for comment.
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