Fuck Abbott, Fuck Censorship
Hooray! Something You Said’s buddy, Isabella Manfredi, of Sydney band The Preatures, has won first place in this year’s Vanda and Young Songwriting Comp – the most prestigious songwriting prize in Australia. But, wait, she’s been censored. Boo!
When receiving the award, she proudly sported the above T-shirt which she had made herself that morning. Yet, in photographs sent to the media via a PR company – which show Manfredi standing with APRA CEO Brett Cottle and runner-up Robert Conley – the word ABBOTT has been photoshopped out.
Isabella created the T-Shirt to highlight her opinion of Australian Opposition Leader Tony Abbott’s recent “sex appeal” comments. Abbott was this week campaigning in the Western Sydney seat of Lindsay when he was asked what the Liberal candidate Fiona Scott had in common with the last Liberal MP Jackie Kelly. Typical of his pre-historic, misogynistic, deplorable attitude to women, he responded with, “They’re young, feisty, I think I can probably say have a bit of sex appeal and they’re just very connected with the local area.”
And if you think this is just a one-off remark, remember this is a man who also once said, “What the housewives of Australia need to understand as they do the ironing is that if they get it done commercially it’s going to go up in price, and their own power bills when they switch the iron on are going to go up.”
And to think, it seems there is a good chance that the people of Australia will make this forward-thinking, enlightened brainiac the Prime Minister of their country next month. Incredible.
Isabella said on her band’s Facebook page: “The Preatures took out first place for Is This How You Feel in the Vanda & Young songwriting comp today and we are totally thrilled and very grateful. But, I did take the opportunity to up it to Abbott about his sex appeal gaff. Unfortunately my T-shirt was censored in all photos, which is both amusing and upsetting. Is this Australian media at its worst? Or were they just being polite?”
She went on to add: “To be clear, this hasn’t spoiled The Preatures win at ALL! We’re excited and incredibly grateful to APRA for giving us this great prize and recognition. Whatever happened with the shirt, my intention was not to undermine the Vanda & Young song competition, which is about celebrating great songs. I miss the political spirit in music though and I think it’s important we don’t get apathetic about our politics, however depressing it may seem! We love you APRA, sadly can’t say the same about Mr Abbott… over and out.”
The ironic thing is that the uproar relating to the censoring of the image has likely created more media attention than if it had been left untouched. Hopefully the T-shirt will be seen in all its glory on websites across the globe now. Well done for making a statement, Isabella.
Words by Bobby Townsend. Want more stories like this? Follow somethingyousaid.com on Facebook.
