What was meant to be one of the highlights of their career so far has ended in a farce after an image of The Preatures singer Isabella Manfredi accepting the $50,000 first prize for this year’s Vanda & Young Songwriting Competition was altered to censor a political statement.
An image circulated to press this morning showing Manfredi looking fairly stoked with her glass of champers was doctored to remove the last name of Opposition leader Tony Abbott. What reads ‘F##K #sexappeal’ should read ‘F##K Abbott #sexappeal’.
Manfredi has since released a statement where she admits to knocking up the design moments before the ceremony to express her opinion. The vocalist has also stated she did not give permission for the photo to be edited:
“I did take the opportunity to up it to Abbott about his sex appeal gaff. Unfortunately my t-shirt (which I made that morning) was censored in all photos, which is both amusing and upsetting. Is this Australian media at it’s worst? Or were they just being polite?”
Two of the sites who ran the photo this morning, The Music Network and TheMusic, have said that it was not they who altered the photo, throwing the ball back into the court of APRA and Alberts, sponsors of the Vanda & Young prize.
However, nothing will change the fact that Manfredi and co penned one of the best tracks of the year, the award-winning Is This How You Feel?, so whoever feels as though Australians aren’t allowed to express their thoughts has some explaining to do… Original image below.
