An Australian mummy blogger has come under fire for several racist Instagram captions, including one where she compared an Indian doctor to a gorilla.
Amy Gerard, who has more than 36,000 followers, documents her life with her partner and three young children on Instagram, describing herself as "a fermented grape enthusiast".
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The post that kicked off the backlash was a photo of Gerard with her blonde children smiling at the camera, with eyes squinted shut against the sun. She captioned the photo 'The Nguyens'.
When a friend commebted "You wan shellac", Gerard replied "u got booyrfan" in a clearly offensive play on accented English.
However, another follower commented that they saw the post and its comments "as nothing but racial slander".
"I'm honestly confused and worried that so many people have seen nothing wrong with your caption and kept it going...I am so terribly sorry to any with the surname reading this," they continued.
Gerard later changed her caption to an apology, writing that she never meant to cause offence, before making her Instagram page private.
However, it wasn't her only transgression. While pregnant, Gerard posted a selfie smiling at the camera, writing in the caption that she sent her family the following message: "Apparently they are lining up some massive Indian doctor up to give me a stretch and sweep. He has a 90 percent success rate at starting labour. Knuckles like a gorilla. I've been sweating ever since they told me".
Gerard then wrote that her father "naturally got all protective", and included a screenshot of 'Pappa Bear' messaging her to ask if the "massive Indian doctor is actually a doctor or a nurse?" and asking if he was a "nice respectable man".
Gerard replied joking that he was "just a chef from a local Indian restaurant who moonlights as a cervix sweeper".
Kiwi Pebbles Hooper brought attention to the posts on her Instagram page, posting screenshots of Gerard's comments and captions to her Instagram story.
"Imagine finding humour in belittling woman [sic] who get paid minimum wage in a foreign country speaking two more languages and having to deal with white privileged assholes like you every day," Hooper captioned one of her posts.
Hooper's Instagram was temporarily blocked in reaction to the posts.
It's not the first time the Gerard has made controversial commentary. In a profile on parenting site 'My Super Nanny', she wrote the one thing she'd never do would be to cut her hair really short, as "its so curly I would look like a lesbian commander".
"Nothing wrong with them, just not my style," she added.
Amy Gerard has been approached by Newshub for comment.
Newshub.
