'I've been copping this since I was a kid': Ernie Dingo opens up about his shameful experiences with racism in Australia - and why he was driven to 'whack' a man over a disgusting slur
- Indigenous TV icon Ernie Dingo told of how he 'whacked' a man over racial slur
- Dingo, 63, said he was waiting to board train when man called him 'f***ing Abo'
- Actor said he grabbed man by scruff of the neck and told him to 'say it again'
- Dingo said on Thursday he had been victim of racial abuse since he was a child
- 'Sooner or later you are going to have to retaliate,' Crocodile Dundee II star said
Indigenous TV star Ernie Dingo has spoken of the abuse he has suffered since his childhood after he fell victim to a racial slur at a train station.
The Crocodile Dundee II actor, 63, shared his account of the incident at Perth Railway Station on Wednesday - when a white man called him a 'f***ing Abo' as he waited to board a train.
Dingo told Aboriginal media outlet Ngaarda Media he chased after the man and 'whacked' him while telling him to repeat the racist phrase.
Speaking about his reaction to the man's words on Thursday, Dingo said he had been on the receiving end of racial abuse all his life, but this week's slur pushed him over the edge.
Crocodile Dundee II actor Ernie Dingo, 63, shared his account of being called a racial slur at Perth Railway Station on Wednesday. He is pictured in 2009
'I've been copping this since I was a kid - I normally turn a blind eye to it,' he told Perth radio station 6PR.
'Sooner or later you are going to have to retaliate, there is going to be a straw that breaks someone's back.'
Clarifying his statement from the day before, when he said he 'whacked' the offender, the actor said he did not actually hit him but grabbed him by the hoodie and told him to 'repeat what he said'.
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'For him to say that just got up my nose so I grabbed him and asked him to repeat it... he wouldn't repeat it because he didn't think an old man could catch him,' he said.
'Why in this day and age would you racially abuse someone?'
Western Australia Police have said they are yet to receive a complaint about the incident.
In his earlier account of Dingo, 63, said the man who made the comment made the slur before attempting to walk away.
Dingo pictured in 2008. Dingo said in the wake of Wednesday's racist incident he had been on the receiving end of racial abuse all his life
'This last bloke (white, late 30's) was watching me - as he gets aside me getting off he says 'f***ing Abo' and walks off,' Dingo said.
Dingo said he chased the man, grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and told him '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 & the train,' he said.
Dingo said two men who were watching the incident came to the man's aid and claimed he had a mental disability
'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.'
Dingo said two men who were watching the incident came to the man's aid and said he may have a mental disorder.
'Well if he is gunna say that s**t to me, I'll have a go at him. I'm 63, I don't take that s**t from anyone,' he said.
Pictured: Perth Railway Station - where Dingo said he fell victim to the racist comment on Wednesday
'I get on the train and this lady says 'are you alright, I heard what he said'. We chatted and as I told her 'He should've known better'.
'I might make the news tonight, I'm sure it was captured on CCTV.'
It comes amid Black Lives Matter protests in Western Australia and all over the world.
Dingo is recognised as a Living National Treasure and a recipient of a General Division of the Order of Australia.
