You heard it first on LU. Last week, Melbourne street artist “Lushsux” went viral with his, er, unconventional portrayal of Hillary Clinton in a skimpy bathing suit.
The city council was unamused — but not because it was Hillary Clinton. No, ma’am:
In a statement, the council said the mural contravened its gender equity policy.
“We believe that this mural is offensive because of the depiction of a near-naked woman, not on the basis of disrespect to Hillary Clinton, and it is not in keeping with our stance on gender equity,” the council chief executive, Stephen Wall, said.
“We contacted Victoria police to provide their opinion on the matter, and they deemed the mural to be offensive and in contravention of the Graffiti Prevention Act 2007, which council is responsible for enforcing.”
Much as we love that the Melbourne City Council contacted the Victoria police for an opinion on this matter, there’s something we love even more. When the council threatened the building’s owner with prosecution, the artist Lushsux sprang into action. He converted his portrait of Hillary into a depiction that nobody, including you, is allowed to object to.
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The Guardian explains:
[I]nstead of removing the mural, Lushsux covered up the swimsuit by painting a niqab over the top of it, leaving only Clinton’s eyes showing. Next to his work, he painted the message: “If this Muslim woman offends u, u r a bigot, racist, sexist Islamophobe.”
This is no longer a wall of a supposed "offensive and near naked" Hillary Clinton, a beautiful Muslim woman. pic.twitter.com/M7Uzr4gqBC
— @lushsux (@lushsux) August 1, 2016
Sadly, Instagram reportedly deleted Lushsux’s account over the original Hillary mural, before he could give it the armor plating of political correctness.
Just try to criticize the mural now, social media mavens. Just try.
