Comedian hits back over triggering Anthony Albanese's 'shag, date or marry' furore with a very cringe response

By KYLIE STEVENS, SENIOR BREAKING NEWS REPORTER, AUSTRALIA Published: 04:25, 24 July 2026 | Updated: 04:25, 24 July 2026 A comedian has described the wave of hate she received following her podcast interview with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in a lengthy, 'tell-all' poem. Albanese appeared on Nikki Osborne's Bush Deep podcast on July 3, where he was asked to play a game choosing which celebrity he would sleep with, marry or date, involving Kylie Minogue, Nicole Kidman and Rhonda Burchmore. 'I've just got married. I'm only six months in,' Albanese said, to which Osborne said: 'But if it goes tits up?' 'Kylie, clearly,' Albanese said. When Osborne asked whether he would 'marry, shag or date' the singer, Albanese said: 'All of the above... She's terrific.'  The remarks drew criticism, with some colleagues accusing the Prime Minister of resorting to 'locker-room antics'. Albanese apologised 'unequivocally' for the comments, but there had been no word from Osborne until, three weeks later, she penned a column for The Courier Mail in the form of a lengthy poem. The 'tell-all' was published on Friday morning and was made up of cheesy rhyming couplets, pairs of consecutive lines that rhyme with each other. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese appeared on Nikki Osborne's Bush Deep podcast on 3 July, where he was asked to play a game of 'shag, marry or date'  Three weeks on from the saga, Nikki Osborne published a 'tell-all' poem 'There once was a comedian who sat with the Prime Minister, a chance to have a laugh, intentions were not sinister,' she said in the first two lines. While Osborne said she had been unfollowed by some social media users after the promotion went live online, the real anger towards her arrived after the full episode was published. 'And there it was: a silly game of "shag, marry, date". A moment taken out of context, some turbo fuel for hate,' she said. 'As she opened up her Instagram to messages of doom. "Osborne is a bimbo s**t, I hope cancer finds you soon". 'Imagine being such a gronk you've decided in your head that jokes are now a greater crime than wishing someone dead.' 'The tables turned so rapidly - now anger from the left. Outrage that she played a game had made the woke bereft.' In the column, Osborne labelled the trolls 'agitators and pearl-clutchers' for not watching the entire podcast before making judgment. 'The Poms and Yanks all had a laugh - they knew what she was doing yet agitators and pearl-clutchers were throwing stones and booing,' she said. Osborne urged critics to watch the whole podcast before making a judgment  Osborne said her own father-in-law 'did not want the whole story' and people didn't care for context, while she took the blow.   She admitted the fierce backlash made her question the episode before she read kind comments on her YouTube channel. Osborne ended the piece with a heartfelt plea to the critics. 'Go watch the show in its entirety before you try to fight her. 'She held her tongue, did not respond, and left the tabloids running because this Bushie's mantra always is: Don't get mad, get funny.' The podcast, Bush Deep with Bushie, bills Osborne as a 'wildly inappropriate viral sensation from the bush' who 'tears her way across Australia in search of a good yarn.' She has also interviewed radio presenter and comedian Wippa, Canadian actor Colin Mochrie, who starred in British and US versions of the improvisation show Whose Line Is It Anyway? and French chef and My Kitchen Rules star Manu Feildel.