The Greens’ South Brisbane branch secretary responsible for last month’s Mean Girls political scandal has taken to Twitter to explain the whole situation.
Considering it’s only Tuesday, it has been an absolutely wild week in Australian politics, but a quote from the hit 2004 film Mean Girls snowballing into a huge political debacle might just take the cake.
For those of you playing at home, Greens South Brisbane branch secretary Joanna Horton shared a screenshot of a quote from former Deputy Premier Jackie Trad, calling the Greens “obsessed with themselves.” In what I can only assume was a joke to hit us all with that 2004 nostalgia, Horton captioned the photo with the iconic Mean Girls quote.
“This party is the nastiest skank bitch I’ve ever met. DO NOT TRUST THEM. they are a fugly slut!!!!!”
https://twitter.com/Sinead_Canning/status/1315093634497142784?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1315093634497142784%7Ctwgr%5Eshare_3&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pedestrian.tv%2Fnews%2Fqueensland-election-mean-girls-greens-labor%2F
Obviously, when you put the quote in context, it appears like Horton is parodying Trad, and referring to her own party (the Greens) as fugly sluts, not Trad herself. Editors note: The use of the words “fugly slut” in Australian politics should be shocking, but alas, it is not.
But, as you can imagine, the tweet was quickly taken out of context, with many news outlets reporting it as a sexist and derogatory attack on Trad. Trad even told the Brisbane Times that “the origin of the quote isn’t the issue,” asserting that she was still offended by it.
“It’s the sexist and derogatory language used. The last thing we need in politics is women attacking women. It’s not progressive, it’s regressive,” Trad, who explained that she regularly deals with sexism from the public, said.
Horton has now taken to Twitter to explain her actions in a lengthy thread.
“Jackie’s comment (“the Greens Political Party are obsessed with themselves”) struck me as a very Mean Girls tone. So I screencapped her comment & posted it w/ the well-known Burn Book quote, parodying her vitriolic tone toward the Greens,” the thread reads.
https://twitter.com/joanna_horton/status/1315569921871364096
Horton also noted that she is just a volunteer, and is not a senior staffer for the Greens – as some have suggested.
“Very quickly this was twisted into my calling Jackie Trad those things, which simply wasn’t true even in the most disingenuous reading of the tweet,” she said.
“In context, there’s virtually no controversy, but political smear campaigns are all about removing context. I had to watch doctored images & completely false quotes attributed to me circulate rapidly around the internet, and I knew there was nothing I could do about it.”
The 29-year-old volunteer, who has made it pretty clear that she did not mean for the tweet to be interpreted the way it was, explained how she has been living in fear and anxiety since the story broke.
“It’s hard to exaggerate how sick & powerless that makes you feel. I haven’t been able to eat or sleep properly for days, and I’ve been basically having a constant low-level panic attack since the story broke.”
Horton also claims she has lodged a Press Council complaint against the Brisbane Times and the journalist who shared the original story, and is now considering legal action.
In hindsight, the words “fugly slut” should probably stay out of politics, even when quoting the iconic 2004 film. But, for what it’s worth, the whole situation appears to just be a not-so-great joke, and *not* a scathing and sexist attack on the former deputy Premier.
All things considered, the whole ordeal looks like it was just blown way out of proportion, resulting in both Trad and Horton feeling bad. Trad’s anger is understandable, considering the (lack of) context given to the tweets in the media, but here’s hoping both women are able to reach an understanding that no harm or sexism was intended.
*sips tea*
And that’s on Australian politics being messy AF.
