{"id":755065,"date":"2026-06-23T13:01:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T13:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/755065\/"},"modified":"2026-06-23T13:01:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T13:01:10","slug":"i-love-pauline-karl-stefanovic-heaps-praise-on-anti-islam-activist-tommy-robinson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/755065\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I love Pauline\u2019: Karl Stefanovic heaps praise on anti-Islam activist Tommy Robinson"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ella McIlveen<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Rohan Smith<\/a><\/p>\n

Karl Stefanovic has heaped praise on far-right commentator Tommy Robinson in an interview where the anti-Islam activist promised an uprising is underway in Britain and Australia.<\/p>\n

Speaking on his podcast, The Karl Stefanovic Show on Tuesday afternoon, Robinson declared he \u201cloves\u201d Pauline Hanson and is in the process of causing a \u201cf***ing earthquake\u201d in the UK.<\/p>\n

The guest proved divisive for Stefanovic\u2019s Australian audience because Robinson was, among other things, a member of the neo-Nazi-adjacent British National Party (BNP) in the early 2000s and has a lengthy criminal record.<\/p>\n

During the 55-minute chat, in which Robinson was not asked difficult questions or pressed on his controversial previous comments, the founder of the English Defence League was allowed to spruik his ultra right-wing nationalist agenda unchallenged.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all believe in free speech, we\u2019re against mass migration, we\u2019re against Islam, we\u2019re a Christian nation and we\u2019re against LGBTQ indoctrination of children,\u201d Robinson said.<\/p>\n

Stefanovic did not question the priorities, but instead asked \u201chow is the right going to take power over in the next three years\u201d and \u201chow do you convert those five values into representation?\u201d<\/p>\n

Robinson said he wants to \u201creach the 50 per cent of non voters and register them to vote\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cI want to go into the roughest areas of Britain, the working class communities … captivate them, re-energise them and make them believe they matter and that will cause a f***ing earthquake,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Stefanovic\u2019s response was: \u201cWell, why not. This is a great country and it\u2019s just so lost.\u201d<\/p>\n

Later in the interview, he told Robinson he was \u201cfascinating\u201d and \u201cthere\u2019s no-one driving working class agendas in this country\u201d.<\/p>\n

When Robinson suggested there was a reckoning taking place in the UK and that anti-immigration voices were becoming mainstream, Stefanovic said \u201cthis is literally happening in Australia with One Nation\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love Pauline,\u201d Robinson said, gushing over the One Nation leader.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe spoke up for me. She\u2019s literally one of the only people who spoke up for me from that side of the world. Looking at her rise, do you know how happy I am for her. <\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s been through what I went through. She\u2019s been condemned, attacked, battered, called every name under the sun.\u00a0It\u2019s not easy. For a woman, the amount of horrible, disgusting things said about her.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stefanovic told Robinson that \u201cmain political parties (in Australia are) using some of her policy and they\u2019re catching fire in the electorate\u201d. <\/p>\n

The Today Show host earlier announced he would be speaking with Robinson in the wake of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer\u2019s resignation on Monday evening.<\/p>\n

\u201cTonight. 5pm. In a historical change, Keir Starmer is out. We speak to Tommy Robinson, the guy you\u2019ve all been asking for. The ultimate disruptor. Many say, a voice for the people. This is a wild chat you can\u2019t miss,\u201d Stefanovic declared on X.<\/p>\n

In a clip of the two, Stefanovic is seen placing his arm around Robinson as they walk the streets.<\/p>\n

\u201cCan I ask you a question?\u201d said Robinson, before asking Stefanovic to fill in the blank.<\/p>\n

\u201cKeir Starmer is a..?\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cW***er,\u201d said Stefanovic, as the pair laughed loudly together.<\/p>\n

Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, organises protests and smear campaigns against what it claims is the spread of \u201cIslamist extremism\u201d.<\/p>\n

Over the last few decades, Robinson, who was previously backed by Elon Musk, has built a lengthy criminal record, having been jailed multiple times for offences including assault, fraud and repeated contempt of court.<\/p>\n

He was also a member of the neo-Nazi-adjacent British National Party (BNP) from 2004 to 2005, and has repeatedly organised protests marred by Nazi salutes.<\/p>\n

For Stefanovic, this interview marks one of the first times the breakfast star will delve into UK-centric politics, as part of the show\u2019s new structure.<\/p>\n

In a bid to keep the momentum, the show has expanded from two shows a week to five shows, five days a week.<\/p>\n

On Mondays, Karl has an in-conversation chat with someone, on Tuesdays, he\u2019s launching The Brief, a new show that looks at how the UK is grappling with the same dire issues as Australia.<\/p>\n

Wednesdays are Karl Weekly, where he sits down with experts, commentators and decision-makers to unpack the stories shaping Australia right now.<\/p>\n

On Thursdays, his first purported media hire, Drew Pavlou has launched his own investigative series, where he\u2019ll go looking for answers on the topics voted on by the audience.<\/p>\n

Then, on Fridays, Karl hosts The Panel, a weekly gathering for debate with rotating guests.<\/p>\n

But the move has left a sour taste in Aussies\u2019 mouths, with many saying the decision to host Robinson was nothing but a \u201cterrible\u201d one.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you going to have Thomas Sewell on next? How far into the sewer are you willing to go,\u201d wrote one X user.<\/p>\n

\u201cWow, you\u2019ve really hit an all-time low. I can\u2019t believe I used to respect you,\u201d said another.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one has been asking for this,\u201d added another.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Australia\u2019s very own right-wing commentator Avi Yameni seemed overjoyed by the new episode, declaring: \u201cFinally, a Karl Stefanovic interview I might actually watch.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is hardly the first time Stefanovic\u2019s podcast has ruffled some feathers, despite launching just five months ago.<\/p>\n

In that time, the media star has interviewed One Nation\u2019s Pauline Hanson, disgraced celebrity chef Pete Evans, Clive Palmer and prominent \u2018manosphere\u2019 figure Big Chokky.<\/p>\n

News.com.au has contacted The Karl Stefanovic Show for comment.<\/p>\n

Stefanovic recently told news.com.au <\/a>his listeners drove his decisions on who is featured on the podcast. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ella McIlveen\u00a0and\u00a0Rohan Smith Karl Stefanovic has heaped praise on far-right commentator Tommy Robinson in an interview where the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":755066,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-755065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/755065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=755065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/755065\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/755066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=755065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=755065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=755065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}