One of the country’s most well-known actors has been involved in a violent incident at a Perth train station after he claims he was called a “f—ing Abo”.
Ernie Dingo was at central station on Wednesday morning waiting to board a train when a man reportedly walked past him and made the racial slur.
“I chased him and scruffs him,” Dingo said, according to Ngaarda Media, which published an account of the scuffle in the actor’s own words on social media.
“‘Say it again’. He is scared now and I whack him on the right side of his head.
“He slips and falls trying to get away, his foot falls between the platform and the train, I drag his arse away from the edge, as he is laying there I ask again, ‘say it again, give me an excuse to whack you’, he doesn’t.”
The Public Transport Authority confirmed an incident happened at the station on Wednesday morning, but there were no plans to release security footage.
Dingo said he was told by two men nearby the man who made the slur may have had an intellectual disability.
“Well if he is gunna say that shit to me, I’ll have a go at him,” he said.
“I’m 63. I don’t take that shit from anyone.
“I might make the news tonight.
“If it does, you heard it from me first and I wouldn’t have minded if I caught the next train rather than not do anything about it and be angry on the train.”
A representative for Dingo said: “Ernie thanks you for your interest, however does not wish to make any further comment”.
Dingo was investigated by police in 2010 following reports he slapped and verbally abused an 11-year-old boy at a school in Carnarvon.
The actor denied the allegation – described at the time by the town’s shire president as “bloody nonsense” – and entered a plea of not guilty before the assault charge against him was dropped.
Dingo is best known for his work in Australian films The Fringe Dwellers and Blackfellas, and for his appearances on The Great Outdoors.
