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Tim Minchin Just Called Cardinal Pell Scum And A Coward

Tim Minchin Just Called Cardinal Pell Scum And A Coward

Comedian and musician Tim Minchin has released a song urging Cardinal Pell to return to Australia to appear at the Royal Commission into child sex abuse -- and he didn't hold back.

Releasing the song on The Project on Tuesday night, Minchin calls Australia's highest ranking Catholic "scum" and "a coward" for not flying back from the Vatican to appear at the commission due to illness, before telling Pell to "come home and frickin' sue me".

"It is just the right thing to do. We have a right to know what you knew. Couldn't you see what was under your nose Georgie? Back in '73 when you were living with Jerry. Is it true that you knew but chose to ignore? Did you actively try to keep it buried? And years later when survivors -- despite their shame and their fear -- stood up to tell their stories."

Minchin continues:

"You spent year after year working hard to protect the church assets. I mean with all due respect, dude, I think you are scum and I reckon you should come home."

"You should come home you pompous buffoon. I suggest do it soon. I hear the tolling of a bell and it has a pellinell."

Minchin then precedes to call Pell "a god damn coward" and to "come and face the music".

"My lawyer just rang me to tell me this one could get me in legal trouble. Oh well, Cardinal Pell, if you don't feel compelled to come home by a sense of moral duty perhaps you will come home and frickin' sue me."

The release of the song comes just days after a GoFundMe page was set up in a crowdfunding effort to send child sex abuse survivors to Rome to see Cardinal Pell give evidence at the commission. All proceeds from the song, available on itunes, will go to the crowdfunding site.

In early February, the Cardinal's doctors told the commission Pell could not travel to Australia due to his health. Pell is scheduled to appear at the commission, in Victoria's Ballarat, via videolink on February 29.

The song's debut on The Project had the program trending within twenty minutes. And while panelist Steve Price called Minchin's public attack "disgusting", social media users tweeted support:

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