Australian Olympic swimming legend Dawn Fraser has chimed into the debate over tennis player Nick Kyrgios, saying he should "go back" to where his parents are from.
Fraser made the comments on the Today show on Tuesday morning, after Kyrgios was accused of "tanking" in his Wimbledon loss against Frenchman Richard Gasquet.
"It's absolutely disgusting. I am so shocked to think that he went out there to play and he tanked," she told host Karl Stefanovic.
"They should be setting a better example for the younger generation... If they don't like it, go back to where their fathers or their parents came from. We don't need them here in this country if they act like that."
Well, Kyrgios who is definitely born in Canberra and has Greek and Malaysian-born parents, decided to throw a thundering baseline return back at the 77-year-old.
And someone went straight for Dawn Fraser's Wikipedia page.
It made a lot of people feel sad about the current state of affairs in Australia.
The #DawnFraser outburst is highly offensive as a second generation Australian. If "national icons" think like this, what hope do we have?
The country's comedic writers rejoiced!
dear god, thank you for dawn fraser, whose bizarre racist abuse will make writing satirical news extremely easy this afternoon
ah, so she was stealing those flags to get herself a new cape
Kyrgios' reaction had a lot others changing their opinion of him.
You acted like a complete tool, but 👍🏻 for calling it out https://t.co/ytVUeCSlho
But for many it was utterly unsurprising moment.
I for one am shocked to hear that an elderly white sportsperson and former publican might also be a racist.
The great Aussie tradition of seeing a steaming pile of racism and saying, "That's not racism, that's just what everyone's thinking."
Why don't we just change our national anthem to "go back to where you came from"? la la la @AttardMon @PatsKarvelas
I DON'T SEE WHAT ALL THIS DAWN FRASER FUSS IS ABOUT PEOPLE WITH FOREIGN-BORN PARENTS CAN STILL STAY IN AUSTRALIA IF THEY'RE NICE AND GOOD
UPDATE 1700 AEST: Dawn Fraser apologised for her comments which "may have caused offense to my fellow Australians including Nick and his family."
Statement from Dawn Fraser regarding her comments about Nick Kyrgios