\u201cWe recognise that decisions about who is given a platform carry particular significance for women, victim-survivors and others affected by domestic violence,\u201d the pub said in a statement on Instagram.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe understand why members of our community have questioned what this event represents and whether their experiences and concerns were adequately considered.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were not considered carefully enough and we are sorry.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have since begun reviewing how prospective speakers, performers, booking agents, and other partners are assessed.\u201d<\/p>\n
The statement confirming the cancellation of the Raw event came just hours before it was scheduled to begin.<\/p>\n
Cousins was found guilty of aggravated stalking and breaching a restraining order in 2017 and received a 12-month prison sentence.<\/p>\n
In 2020 he was again sentenced to seven months for stalking a former partner.<\/p>\n
Promotion for the evening said Cousins would \u201copen up like never before\u201d, discussing his jail time and exile from the AFL community.<\/p>\n
There was relief from some at the event being cancelled, with Ballarat Centre Against Sexual Assault manager Katrina Bevelander one of the opponents.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo me it really flies in the face of some of the hard work the Ballarat community is doing,\u201d she told ABC.<\/p>\n
\u201dHaving someone of his status coming into our community and profiting off essentially behaviours of perpetrating gender-based violence, just really left a bad taste in my mouth.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo platform someone who\u2019s profiting off the back of behaviours that I don\u2019t believe they\u2019ve taken full accountability for is a bit of the slap in the face of victim-survivors and the community as a whole.<\/p>\n
\u201dWe welcome men\u2019s voices in that space if they have truly taken accountability for their past behaviours.<\/p>\n
\u201dI question that in this instance, just purely off the profiting off the back of that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ben Cousins has been dropped from his speaking gig at a Victorian pub amid community backlash. The former…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":602483,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[296888,28357,85040,296910,296892,272832,296875,296900,294557,296866,296907,277149,296896,271102,296908,296871,296881,6761,68501,14846,26480,296872,8172,129690,296916,296882,260444,296865,296879,430,296884,181857,16639,296905,296897,68218,156,296870,296887,36974,296915,296873,296889,296901,287913,4791,296903,4754,3605,296895,111,139,69,296880,296899,293772,296906,86519,296914,296917,40123,38920,9361,296898,296874,4497,9343,296869,296904,296913,296868,211581,277406,296902,288368,277148,296893,270701,291703,296894,296891,296864,296890,296878,296876,296867,296911,263136,296885,296912,296918,296877,296883,296886,296909,57698,1680,2248],"class_list":["post-602482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-s-voices","tag-28357","tag-85040","tag-a-12-month-prison-sentence-in-2020","tag-a-bad-taste","tag-a-bit","tag-a-fee","tag-a-former-partner-promotion","tag-a-headline","tag-a-momento","tag-a-new-gig","tag-a-platform","tag-a-restraining-order","tag-a-statement","tag-a-talk","tag-a-victorian-pub","tag-a-whole","tag-abc","tag-accountability","tag-adelaide","tag-aggravated","tag-all-things-sport","tag-backlash","tag-ballarat","tag-ballarat-centre","tag-begin-cousins","tag-behaviours","tag-ben-cousins","tag-booking-agents","tag-celebrities","tag-community-backlash","tag-cousins","tag-decisions","tag-disappointment-and-hurt","tag-disdain-love","tag-domestic-violence","tag-entertainment","tag-evening-fans","tag-full-accountability","tag-gender-based-violence","tag-gig-hours","tag-his-jail-time-and-exile","tag-his-speaking-gig","tag-his-status","tag-his-time","tag-instagram","tag-just-hours","tag-members","tag-men","tag-my-mouth","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-other-partners","tag-our-community","tag-our-new-app","tag-particular-significance","tag-performers","tag-platform-someone","tag-prospective-speakers","tag-pub","tag-purely","tag-relief","tag-seven-months","tag-sexual-assault-manager-katrina-bevelander-one","tag-start","tag-statement","tag-that-space","tag-the-anger","tag-the-hurt-and-disappointment","tag-the-afl-community-there","tag-the-announcement","tag-the-back","tag-the-ballarat-community","tag-the-cancellation","tag-the-community","tag-the-evening","tag-the-event","tag-the-face","tag-the-former-afl-player","tag-the-george-hotel","tag-the-hard-work","tag-the-opponents","tag-the-profiting","tag-the-pub","tag-the-raw-event","tag-the-slap","tag-the-statement","tag-the-ticketed-event","tag-their-experiences-and-concerns","tag-their-past-behaviours","tag-this-event","tag-this-instance","tag-victim-survivors","tag-victim-survivors-and-others","tag-walker","tag-wednesday","tag-women"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=602482"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602482\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/602483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=602482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=602482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=602482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}