A MAN from Brisbane’s southside unwittingly became the butt of the joke after posting an online advertisement with very specific requirements of a potential house mate.
A Gumtree member posted an ad for a room for rent in his family home at Eight Mile Plains earlier this month, which caught the eye of Legally Brown comedian Nazeem Hussain.
In the ad, which has since been suspended by Gumtree, the man stipulated he would “prefer like-minded people” to apply for the room.
“Sorry no backpackers, Indians and Muslims,” the ad stated.
The ad also touted the house’s size, cleanliness, modern conveniences and proximity to public transport.
Mr Hussain — a comedian, actor and radio presenter with Sri Lankan Muslim parents — shared the ad on social media on Wednesday night, joking about how he would prank call the Eight Mile Plains resident.
“I am prank calling this guy all night,” he wrote on Facebook.
“‘Hi, I’m Ahmed, a backpacker from India’.
“‘Hi, I’m Abdul, a backpacker from India’.
“‘Hi, I’m Mohammed, a backpa ...”
On Twitter, Mr Hussain reported he had reached the man’s voicemail.
Twitter user FakeTonyAbbott said the man was “a full-forward in ‘Team Australia’.”
Another Twitter user with the handle @Entregreeneur wrote: “Tempted to run an ‘Indian Muslim backpacker housemates wanted’ Google ad Facebook ad campaign with his mobile no.”
The man who posted the ad, who wished to remain anonymous, took the response in good humour when contacted by the Southern Star.
“Oh, it was Nazeem?” he said. “I know him. I love him. He’s funny. Now it makes sense because he sent me a text message about a camel.”
But he said he wished his contact details had not been posted by Hussain after he had received a couple of threatening telephone calls.
“That stuff’s going to happen,” he said.
“That’s part of life. If I was racist, I would have been derogatory and used other language. As I told one of the guys, it’s just my life experience and at the end of the day it’s my decision. I have to look after my family.”
The man said he had employed “people of those demographics” to work for his cleaning venture.
“I’ve never had an issue, it’s just about our living environment,” he said. “It’s just about the harmony.”
He said he had hopefully found someone to move into the room.
“I have someone coming today to look at it, so it’s all good.” he said.
Quest Newspapers
