“To some people, I’m a scary monster and to other people I’m, you know, I speak truth to power,” Rosie O’Donnell tells The Sydney Morning Herald ahead of her Australian comedy tour. “I’ll still say things that’ll piss people off, don’t you worry about that! I think any comedian goes towards the things that anger them and they’re able to twist into a way that gives you the comedy but the point still hits home.”
”You got that new guy [Prime Minister Tony Abbott]. He doesn’t seem too promising,” Rosie says, comparing the fight for gay equality down under with the changes happening in the United States. “Sounds like Sarah Palin got elected down there! We’ve come such a long way here [in the US]. My wife is nine years younger than me and often when we’re out in public she’ll just grab my hand and you know, often I kind of look around to see if it’s OK or if it’s safe. I don’t have that any more, that anxiety. I feel like the government has finally said ‘you are an equal citizen and you are allowed to love who you love.’”