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'I'll be voting for ScoMo': Slater, who said PM had 'blood on his hands', reflects on Seven sacking

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9th October, 2021
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Michael Slater says he was “highly emotional” when he accused Prime Minister Scott Morrison of having “blood on his hands” over the treatment of Australians unable to freely travel home from India during Covid.

Channel Seven decided not to renew Slater’s contract as a commentator for the Ashes summer, with speculation that the decision was based on a series of tweets he made when in India for the IPL. Seven says it was purely a budgetary decision.

“I’ve never experienced anything like India with the Covid in all my life,” Slater told The Daily Telegraph.

“The tweets came from a place of sheer desperation and wanting to get home to crying kids worried about their father.

“It got very emotional. We got to Ahmedabad and we went past a Covid testing site. We’d see all these dead bodies on the side of the road. I’ve never seen anything like it in my life. It was so horribly confronting.

“I didn’t want to be disrespectful. I was highly emotional and people know I handle things differently.

“I was feeling completely overwhelmed.

“If I had my time again, bearing in mind it could have had a link to what’s just happened to me at Channel 7, no I wouldn’t do it again.”

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Slater was asked if wanted to apologise to Morrison.

“All I’ll say is that I’ll be voting for ScoMo at the next election. I admire what he does.”

He has, however, not deleted any of the tweets sent to his 82,000 followers.

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Slater is now on the lookout for work.

“I’m fit and healthy and I’ve got to provide for three kids who go to school and their fees aren’t cheap,” Slater said.

“While it’s disappointing to be leaving Seven before an Ashes series, I’ll soldier on and keep pushing forward.

“I don’t know if it’s related to what I said about ScoMo but it got a lot of airplay at the time.

“The head of sport said it was a budgetary decision.

“I was on a good wicket but they’ve made a business decision.

“It’s a bitter pill to swallow because I loved the job so much.”

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