Tony Abbott’s “Shirtfront” Threat, Seamlessly Inserted Into ‘The Untouchables’
APPLAUSE!
Another day, another mindless comment made by a public figure, another supremely excellent mash-up by video artist Huw Parkinson.
Last week, PM Tony Abbott confused the non-sports-loving parts of the nation by vowing to “shirtfront” Vladamir Putin when the pair meet at the G20 summit next month.
“Look, I’m going to shirtfront Mr. Putin. You bet you are,” he said, strangely. “You bet I am,” he repeated, more correctly.
i know you am but what am i you am shirtfront you betcha
— Bec (@Brocklesnitch) October 13, 2014
“I’m going to be saying to Mr. Putin: Australians were murdered by Russian backed rebels using Russian supplied equipmant. We are very unhappy about this, we accept that you didn’t want this to happen, but we now demand that you fully cooperate with the criminal investigation.”
young russian foreign ministry bureaucrat googles shirt front — chris berg (@chrisberg) October 13, 2014
The term itself is a common phrase in the Aussie Rules football world, referring to “a fierce tackle, usually delivered by the shoulder to the chest of an opponent” — a fairly aggressive threat to come from one nation leader to another, which Abbott soon wound back to the more toothless/less fun warning of “robust conversation“.
To highlight the increasingly ridiculous nature of public debate in this country (see also: “economic girlie-men“), Huw Parkinson inserted the initial speech into the 1987 film, The Untouchables.
It makes about as much sense here as it did in real-life.
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For more of Huw Parkinson’s excellent mash-ups, head here, here and here.