Comedian Catherine Deveny slammed over tweet calling Anzac Day 'bogan Halloween'

Catherine Deveny is no stranger to backlash over her Anzac Day tweets. Photo / Supplied

An Australian comedian who tweeted that Anzac Day is "Bogan Halloween" and a celebration of the country's "fetishism of war and violence" has been slammed for her comments.

But like most pile-ons on social media, many took things way, way too far.

Catherine Deveny tweeted on Tuesday that "serve" is not the right word for our armed servicemen and women.

"Why do people in the armed forces use the word 'serve' to describe their work despite it being no more dangerous or prone to upheaval than many other jobs?" she wrote.

ANZAC Day. It's Bogan Halloween.

— Catherine Deveny (@CatherineDeveny) April 24, 2018

One of the thing that ANZAC day brings up is the hilarious notion that Australians have fought for our right to free speech. Australians do not have the right to free speech. Australians who have worked in the violence industry have fought wars to suck up to the US and British.

— Catherine Deveny (@CatherineDeveny) April 24, 2018

Why do people in the armed forces use the word 'serve' to describe their work despite it being no more dangerous or prone to upheaval than many other jobs? It's just a job and work. Throw the term 'serve' in the bin. It's part of the fetishisation of war and violence.

— Catherine Deveny (@CatherineDeveny) April 23, 2018

"It's just a job and work. Throw the term 'serve' in the bin. It's part of the fetishism of war and violence."

Later, she wrote that it was a "hilarious notion" that our Diggers fought for our right to free speech and that "Australians who have worked in the violence industry have fought wars to suck up to the US and British".

On Tuesday, a former soldier wrote to Deveny: "Catherine, I served my country, as a soldier, for 26 years. How many did you serve? Zero."

The comedian responded: "You didn't serve your country, you chose a job in the violence industry."

She finished with a third tweet late on Tuesday night: "ANZAC Day. It's Bogan Halloween."

Deveny has been here before. She is an outspoken critic of Anzac Day and previously wrote that she expects the "yearly hate explosion over my Anzac Day opinions".

"My views, that Anzac Day does not reflect the inclusiveness of all those affected by war, nor our more sophisticated understanding of the true machinations and motivations behind war are neight rare, radical or new."

In recent years, she wrote: "Anzac Day. A celebration of a society so f***ed up it saw no other option than to go to war. Kill, rape and invade. Then glorify it."

The response is almost always the same. Some support her, many are disappointed.

"It must be that time of the year again," Guy McRedmond wrote on Twitter.

"When you try to convince yourself that you are somehow relevant by tweeting more uneducated rubbish about ANZAC Day and serving members of the ADF. It's easy to post crap to get a reaction. Certainly a lot easier than serving one's country."

Another wrote that Deveny has "the right to free speech but this is vulgar. Would you say that to the face of an elderly soldier?"

But others respond with threats of rape and violence and ruin any chance for sensible debate.

After a series of tweets in the lead up to Anzac Day this year, Deveny wrote that Anzac "trolls" are "ignorant and uneducated and prove my point better than I ever could ... Show Some Respect = Shut The F*** Up Or I'll Threaten To Rape You".

She's not the first Australian with a profile to speak out against Anzac Day. Former SBS presenter Scott McIntyre was sacked in 2015 after referring to Australians marking Anzac Day as "poorly-read, largely white, nationalist drinkers and gamblers".

The Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull responded on Twitter, saying it is "difficult to think of more offensive or inappropriate comments" and that the "despicable remarks deserve to be condemned".

That didn't stop him from posting a bunch more tweets on the subject in 2016.