This Sydney Pub Is Being Bombarded With Negative Reviews About This Controversial Mural
The mural has already been vandalised.
Yesterday morning, just before the marriage equality postal survey result was announced, this mural popped on the outside wall of the Botany View Hotel in the inner-west Sydney suburb of Newtown:
It was painted by Scott Marsh, the artist behind the well-known ‘Casino Mike’ mural and Brisbane’s anti-Adani mural, taking aim at Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk. The latest work depicts former Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Cardinal George Pell, both opponents of marriage equality, getting kind of… intimate.
It got a lot of love on social media.
Whoever did this mural at the Botany View Hotel. Five stars. #marriageequality pic.twitter.com/VDUG88MFno
— Kate Allman (@KateAllman1) November 15, 2017
But not everyone was happy. Yesterday afternoon a picture of the mural was posted to Facebook group called “Christian Lives Matter”. The post described the mural as “disgusting” and encouraged the page’s 10,000 members to call the pub and complain, and bombard the Botany View’s Facebook page with negative reviews and one-star ratings.
It looks like the call to arms worked. According to Marsh, the pub had to take their phones off the hook “due to angry calls about George Pell appearing as a buff hog stripper”.
Botany view hotel took their phones off the hook hours ago due to angry calls about @GeorgePell appearing as buff hog stripper??
— scott_marsh (@Scottie_marsh) November 15, 2017
And the Botany View’s Facebook page was bombarded with hundreds of negative reviews, dragging their average rating down considerably.
However this morning, supporters of the Botany View have hit back by posting hundreds of positive, five-star reviews, and the average rating has nudged back up to 3.2 stars. Junkee contacted the hotel’s owner, but they declined to comment.
In bad news for fans of the mural, overnight someone threw a bucket of paint over it, obscuring George Pell’s ripped abs.
But Marsh doesn’t want opponents of the mural to have the last word. He posted his own interpretation of the paint job on Twitter:
? What a great collaboration with the church! They have really over-emphasised George Pell’s excitement at the historic ‘yes’ vote by plastering his face with white ‘paint’. Well done???
Cum check out the additions #botanyviewhotel #tonyabbott #georgepell #loveislove pic.twitter.com/Hyc94lNCo8— scott_marsh (@Scottie_marsh) November 15, 2017