Vanity Fair writer defends Margot Robbie yarn as just a 'joke'.

The writer behind the infamous Margot Robbie piece published in Vanity Fair has defended his work without apology.

American journalist Rich Cohen managed to slur our entire country in a piece meant to show the best side of the young Australian star.

“As I said, she is from Australia. To understand her, you should think about what that means,” he wrote.

Wait for it.

Watch the accompanying video of where Robbie cutely explains our slag. Post continues…

Cohen told Fairfax media he was “mostly joking” about the piece that said Australia was America 50 years ago.

“I was mostly joking. It is a goof. Supposed to be funny,” he said.

The writer went on to say his descriptions of our country were intended to be a “compliment.”

Let’s review some of those descriptions:

“Australia is America 50 years ago, sunny and slow, a throwback, which is why you go there for throwback people.” 

“When everyone here is awake, everyone there is asleep, which makes it a perfect perch from which to study our customs, habits, accents.”

The writer went on to say that Australia was still a “unified country” unlike America that has “shattered into warring camps”.

“To the extent that the point is serious, It’s a compliment. I’m saying that Australia is still a unified country whereas our American culture has shattered into warring camps. Australia had what we lost,” he said.

I guess Cohen hasn’t been following the election.

But don’t worry. He’s legit. He’s done his research. He said that he’s even visited here on holiday.

“Yes. I’ve been to Australia. I loved it. Best people in the world.”

How nice.

The piece was lampooned by readers after it was published as the cover story for their August issue.

Cohen seemed oblivious to the reaction and told Fairfax he hadn’t “heard much from anybody.”

“I’m in Maine. Mostly without a phone. Just got a signal for a few hours,” he said.

The very public reaction has continued to be a trending story with readers attacking both Cohen’s descriptions of Australia and the actress.

Good effort on speaking to Fairfax, Cohen, poor effort on humour.