Pamela Anderson slams Australian Prime Minister for making "smutty" remarks
Erstwhile model and Baywatch star, Pamela Anderson, has hit back at Australian Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, for laughing off her plea to have detained WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, brought back to his native country.
In an open letter published on her website, and later to the Daily Beast, Anderson lambasted Morrison for making "smutty remarks", which "trivialised and laughed about the suffering of an Australian and his family."
Her comments follow an interview conducted earlier this month with Australia's 60 Minutes where she requested that Morrison facilitate Assange's return to the country.
In the interview, Anderson described her relationship with Assange as "a romantic struggle". She has purportedly been visiting him in the Ecuadorean embassy - where he has remained for the past two years - following an asylum request granted in 2012.
Morrison rejected Anderson's plea, but asserted that he has "plenty of mates who have asked me if they can be my special envoy to sort out the issue with Pamela," during an appearance on a local Australian radio station.
In her letter, Anderson said that the response was "disappointing", and moreover, included "smutty, unnecessary comments about a woman voicing her political opinion. We all deserve better from our leaders, especially in the current environment."
Morrison has not yet responded to Anderson's statement.
A number of Australia's political figures took to social media to support the 51-year-old - if not necessarily for her cause.
Labour Party New South Wales Senator, Kristina Keneally, tweeted "I don't agree with Ms. Anderson's views on Assange -- but she's right about one thing: it's high time men, including @ScottMorrisonMP stopped using a woman's sexuality & appearance to denigrate her political arguments."
In the 60 Minutes interview, Anderson confessed that she didn't know Morrison's name, "At the moment... because he's new."
Morrison became the nation's sixth Prime Minister in 10 years in August.
When informed of Morrison's name, Anderson addressed him directly: "OK, well, Scott, defend your friend, and get Julian his passport back, and take him back to Australia and be proud of him. And throw him a parade when he gets home."
Assange, who is an Australian citizen, has been residing in Ecuador's London embassy since 2012, where he has effectively been on house arrest since facing extradition to Sweden on sexual assault allegations. Although those charges have been dropped, there are still fears that he will be extradited to the US.
The WikiLeaks founder is also sought after by British authorities for jumping bail when he absconded to Ecuador's diplomatic mission in Knightsbridge six years ago.
Earlier this month, a court filing accidentally revealed the US government's efforts to criminally charge Assange. CNN reported that back in April, US authorities had prepared charges to seek Assange's arrest. However, no charges were ever formally announced, and the 47-year-old remains holed up in the Ecuadorean embassy.
In 2016, the UNHCR's Working Group on Arbitrary Detention came to the conclusion that "the various forms of deprivation of liberty to which Julian Assange has been subjected constitute a form of arbitrary detention," and called for his release.