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Gillard amused but will not watch TV sex scene
Source: Agencies |
September 22, 2011, Thursday
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AUSTRALIAN Prime Minister Julia Gillard said yesterday that she did not plan to watch a TV program showing two comedians playing her and her partner blanketed by the national flag after having sex on her office floor.
The third episode of the satirical series "At Home With Julia," which was to be aired last night by the government-owned Australian Broadcasting Corp, has been criticized by lawmakers and the media as disrespectful to the Australian flag and the post of prime minister.
The four-part series has been more broadly condemned as unfunny and a sexist depiction of Australia's first female prime minister.
But Gillard would not buy into the controversy over the flag scene. "I won't be watching it and I'm not intending to comment on it," Gillard told Nine Network television early yesterday. "I've got some bigger things on my mind."
Gillard had initially expressed enthusiasm for the series, and producers were permitted to shoot some scenes on the grounds of her official Canberra residence. She had the first episode recorded for her when it was aired on September 7 while she was in New Zealand.
"I think people who know me well know I've got a pretty good sense of humor, so I expect to be laughing when I watch it," she said then.
Lawmakers from her Labor Party and the conservative opposition united in their condemnation of the flag scene.
Assistant Treasurer Bill Shorten conceded that some people considered it funny that Gillard's terrier in the series was named after him because the dog was always at her heels - a jibe at his leadership ambitions.
"But once you have got the prime minister and the flag - I find it personally tasteless," Shorten told reporters.
Opposition lawmaker John Forrest called on the ABC to pull the episode. "I've spat the dummy," Forrest told The Age newspaper, using a common Australian expression that likened his reaction to a child's tantrum. "Desecrating the flag is not on," he added.
The ABC defended the scene, saying it was not gratuitous in the context of the 30-minute episode.
Gillard is a novelty in Australian politics. As well as being Australia's first female prime minister, she is also the first premier to live with a common-law partner, hairdresser Tim Mathieson, in the official residence.
The third episode of the satirical series "At Home With Julia," which was to be aired last night by the government-owned Australian Broadcasting Corp, has been criticized by lawmakers and the media as disrespectful to the Australian flag and the post of prime minister.
The four-part series has been more broadly condemned as unfunny and a sexist depiction of Australia's first female prime minister.
But Gillard would not buy into the controversy over the flag scene. "I won't be watching it and I'm not intending to comment on it," Gillard told Nine Network television early yesterday. "I've got some bigger things on my mind."
Gillard had initially expressed enthusiasm for the series, and producers were permitted to shoot some scenes on the grounds of her official Canberra residence. She had the first episode recorded for her when it was aired on September 7 while she was in New Zealand.
"I think people who know me well know I've got a pretty good sense of humor, so I expect to be laughing when I watch it," she said then.
Lawmakers from her Labor Party and the conservative opposition united in their condemnation of the flag scene.
Assistant Treasurer Bill Shorten conceded that some people considered it funny that Gillard's terrier in the series was named after him because the dog was always at her heels - a jibe at his leadership ambitions.
"But once you have got the prime minister and the flag - I find it personally tasteless," Shorten told reporters.
Opposition lawmaker John Forrest called on the ABC to pull the episode. "I've spat the dummy," Forrest told The Age newspaper, using a common Australian expression that likened his reaction to a child's tantrum. "Desecrating the flag is not on," he added.
The ABC defended the scene, saying it was not gratuitous in the context of the 30-minute episode.
Gillard is a novelty in Australian politics. As well as being Australia's first female prime minister, she is also the first premier to live with a common-law partner, hairdresser Tim Mathieson, in the official residence.
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