No Hanson at DIVAs

No Hanson at DIVAs

The committee behind this year’s Drag Industry Variety Awards (DIVA) has moved to distance itself from rumours that Pauline Hanson will present an award at this year’s event.

In a statement issued this morning, DIVA chairman Greg Steele said while the speculation had been good for broadening knowledge of the awards, Hanson had not been extended an official invitation.

“The DIVA Awards celebrate and promote tolerance towards the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community, and are happy to do so even if it comes from unexpected quarters,” the statement read.

“Yesterday’s media attention has created hype, talk and debate. It has given people a platform to voice their opinions on views and political points that are important to them. A donation was made yesterday to the Jackie Mackay Breast Cancer Foundation to Celebrity Apprentice team, Team Unity.

“We would like to clarify that the DIVA Awards Australia is in no way aligning themselves with controversial ex-political figure Pauline Hanson who is one of the members of Celebrity Apprentice Team Unity, no official invitation has been made to Pauline Hanson by the DIVA Awards and she has in no way officially accepted any invitation.”

Social media sites went into overdrive last night after another website hinted that the former One Nation leader would be at the awards, to be held on October 24 at the Byron Kennedy Hall, Fox Studios.

“Isn’t it a bit like getting Hermann Goering to MC at a bar mitzvah?” one critic posted on Facebook.

“Unless she is there to apologise and tell people she has changed her ways she has no business being at the DIVA’s and I am surprised if the DIVA’s would even have her, are you sure the media did not mistake Pauline Pantsdown for the ‘real’ Pauline?,” another wrote.

In an interview with the Star Observer in April 2007 Hanson spoke out against gay marriage.

SSO: Do you support gay and lesbian equality?

PH: What I won’t support is gay marriages.

SSO: Do you support gay civil unions?

PH: I have to understand more about civil unions. I can’t accept same-sex marriage or a union between people. Then it will be okay to allow the other rights. Then the rights of adopting children or IVF must be accepted. If you accept one area you must accept another area.

READ THE FULL 2007 INTERVIEW

The gay community has a chequered history with Pauline Hanson after performer Simon Hunt’s alter ego Pauline Pantsdown satirised her in the 1997 chart hit I Don’t Like It.

Last night Hunt used Facebook to express his opinion on the possibility of Hanson appearing at the awards.

“Hello, the “other Pauline” here … this is what happens when someone spends 13 years as a B-grade dancing celeb after their political life finishes: people forget about the other three years in which she caused great pain with her marginalisation of non-white people in this country; that her racism epitomised the evil dark shit that to this day still bubbles under the surface here – be it on right-wing facebook groups or some Grindr profiles,” he wrote.

“So what drugs are the DIVA committee on? In my own brief B-grade celeb-hood in ‘97-99, it was paradoxically a comment made at a DIVA night that summed up Hanson’s effect: my DIVA performance was choregraphed by a 40-ish Malaysian guy who’d been here for 20 years. He told me that the Hanson time we were living in then had, for the first time, made him feel unwelcome in this country. So sorry to not be funny, but this is pretty disgusting.”

The annual DIVA Awards are held to recognise the successes of Sydney’s drag community.

The awards were launched at the Midnight Shift on Monday.

IN PICTURES: DIVA 2011 launch party

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22 responses to “No Hanson at DIVAs”

  1. The trouble with these cautiously qualified press releases from the DIVA Awards PR is that they continue to exonerate those responsible for this disastrous PR stunt, in this case drawing a distinction between a “verbal invitation” and the “official invitation” that they denied in the first press release. For 48 hours between press releases DIVA were happy to leave things on the shoulders of the two drag queens who they had, as an organisation, personally sent to invite Hanson to take part. In this so-called “clarification”, they thank Lola and Christina for their “work”, but fail to make an apology to them. Doing so would, of course, draw attention directly to the failings of truth in the first press release. As “no further comment will be made”, it seems that the organisation refuses to be fully accountable to those people it was founded to support – drag queens donating their time.

  2. no comment brendan? obviously you are about as intelligent as the people on the DIVA board

  3. Do you want to apoligise now Brendan?, since its evident from DIVA’s official statement that they DID ask her

  4. an official press statement from the DIVA Board:

    “The DIVA Awards Committee would like to clarify a verbal invitation was extended to Pauline Hanson on Wednesday September 28, 2011 to attend this year’s DIVA (Drag Industry Variety Awards) as a guest being held on October 24 at a charity event to raise funds for the Joanne MacKay Breast Cancer Foundation. Due to certain members voicing objections post publicity no official invitation was sent by the committee to Pauline Hanson’s office, we have spoken directly to Pauline Hanson to advise her of this. Pauline Hanson accepts this decision and the views of certain members.

    No further comment will be made on this matter by the DIVA committee. We would like to thank DIVA representatives Miss Christina Dior and Lola Del Arte for their time and involvement in the charity event and publicity opportunity. The DIVA Awards Committee would like to apologise to anyone in the community who has been offended in any way. We hope the DIVA community will come together in a spirit of unity, acceptance and tolerance to enjoy the upcoming event that recognises the achievements within the performing sector of the GLBITQ (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Intersex, Transgender, Questioning and Queer) community and looks forward to showcasing the best DIVA Awards event to date.”

  5. Capital letters or no capital letters, Brendan, that remains unclear. Read Verushka’s statement again.

  6. Dear Brendan,

    I’ve spoken to everyone involved, from the girls who asked her to the Diva people who sent them, and the truth of the matter is that they did ask Pauline Hanson, and she did accept.

    If you don’t believe me, or the words of the people either begrudgingly or directly involved, then feel free to read all of the coverage in both the mainstream media and Guide to Gay.

    Have a happy Big Gay Day

    Verushka

  7. That’s not clear Brendan, either with uppercase letters or without. Read Verushka’s statement again.

  8. I think that Verushka’s statement covers everything. Did a GLBT organisation invite a right-wing nationalist to present an award at an event; realise its mistake, then attempt to shift blame to two young drag queens who were unlikely to want to make waves with an organisation intimately tied with their careers?

    Scott, hoping you can ask DIVAS these questions ….

  9. This was taken from Verushka Darlings Facebook page

    Okay… So they haven’t released a mea-culpa, or any other statement, it seems, since the last one. So I think it is time to do the quick analysis and refuting of that statement, don’t you?

    In their attempt to distance themselves from the fallout the DIVA Board has said, “The DIVA Awards celebrate and promote tolerance towards the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community…” This, of course should be the goal, but it is grossly undermined by their decision to invite to the event a right-wing, nationalist politician whose policies and on-record comments have actually promoted intolerance and discrimination towards not only the GLBTQI communities, but also to ethnic minorities in our, and the greater Australian communities. So, in the promotion of tolerance and acceptance stakes, I would call this a “FAIL”, by DIVAs, wouldn’t you? Let’s go on…

    They continue to say that they are “happy to do so even if it comes from unexpected quarters”. By unexpected quarters, they of course mean Pauline Hanson. As if to say “How unexpected that, given what she stands for, PH would want to support us! Who would’ve guessed?”… Well they would have guessed, because the DIVAS planned to invite her. How do we know this? … Because a press release/story was written prior to the event stating exactly that intention and goal. That’s how we know. It is also important to know that the story was written by DIVAs Diamond Sponsors, Guide to Gay. I say this not to accuse Guide to Gay of doing anything other than their duty to report events, but rather to show the close link to the media body that pre-broke the story, and the DIVAs. The article/press release runs as follows:

    “In the name of the Joanne Mackay Breast Cancer Foundation, an unusual alliance will be forged on Manly Beach today at 1pm AEST. Celebrity Apprentice representative, Pauline Hanson, will receive a generous donation drag queens Miss Christina Dior and Lola Del Arté (pictured) and representing Australia’s premier not-for-profit drag industry event, the DIVA Awards (Drag Industry Variety Awards) by new major DIVA Awards sponsor, Aussie Bums.Unbeknown to Pauline the DIVA Awards representatives, will be asking Pauline Hanson to be an official guest at this year’s 21st anniversary awards and also to be an award presenter on the night”

    As can be seen, the article clearly outlines DIVA’s aims and goals of the exercise… to donate $200 for the purpose of asking Pauline to be an “official” (note that word, it’s important) guest at this year’s awards and to be an award presenter on the night.

    Independent verification that exactly this did occur can be seen in news items in both The Herald Sun, and the Telegraph. Video footage of it used to exist online on Christina and Lola’s FB pages, but has since been removed. I wonder why…

    After talking about people having a choice to voice their opinions and have a debate etc. the Diva’s statement goes on to say, “a donation was made yesterday to the Jackie Mackay Breast Cancer Foundation to Celebrity Apprentice team, Team Unity”. This is true, but it’s also disingenuous, because as the Guide to Gay, Telegraph, Herald Sun (and Christina and Lola themselves) report, it was done with the aim of inviting PH to come and present an award at DIVA.

    The statement continues by saying, “We would like to clarify that the DIVA Awards Australia is in no way aligning themselves with controversial ex-political figure Pauline Hanson who is one of the members of Celebrity Apprentice Team.” It is interesting to note that they try to distance themselves by saying that they are not “aligning themselves” with Pauline when the Guide to Gay article clearly states “an unusual alliance will be forged on Manly Beach today”. Remember, it is inconceivable that the Diva Board was unaware of this article, as it was written by their Diamond Sponsor several hours prior to the event. It is amusing to note that they refer to PH as an “Ex-political figure”, an interesting way to describe someone who only recently ran for office. They also go on to indicate that PH was just one member of the celebrity apprentice team, as if it was just some strange coincidence…And yet they didn’t approach any of the other members of the team, and ask them on record to present an award at DIVAs, did they?

    The Diva board then finishes by saying that, “no official invitation has been made to Pauline Hanson by the DIVA Awards and she has in no way officially accepted any invitation”. I’m curious to know how the DIVA Awards define “official”, because a press release in the media indicating that they were going to ask her to be an “official guest”, sounds pretty official to me, especially when followed-up by reports in not only Guide to Gay, but also the mainstream media, that they did in fact invite her, and that she did in fact accept.

    It may be important to know that the official PR spokesperson for the DIVA Awards wrote his own follow-up article on Guide to Gay, trumpeting Pauline Hanson’s acceptance of the invitation, and encouraging discussion on which would be the campest award for her to present, if she were to give one. That statement, however, like the film footage of the whole fiasco, has also been removed.

    It all makes DIVA’s statement seem a little disingenuous, doesn’t it?!

    Come on guys! Just own your mistake, apologize for it, and we can all move on.

  10. @april, the fact they released the statement saying no ‘official’ invitation had been given is an obvious point of the finger to the only other people involved in this situation, it is clear that it was orchestrated from the begining, and instead of taking a stand and communicating a specific view in reguards to wether she should attend or not, they decided to do nothing but try and leave themselves looking blameless

  11. Hi April – well it does by imputation : These two made an approach to Pauline Hanson on Wednesday, DIVA puts out a press announcement on Thursday morning that no “official” invitation has been made, and that they are “no way aligning themselves with controversial ex-political figure Pauline Hanson”.

    So who WAS aligning themselves with Pauline Hanson? These two girls by themselves? It seems very unclear. Who wrote the PR that was published in the hours before the Hanson meeting ? http://www.guidetogay.com/the-news/news-oz/841-celebrity-apprentice-star-pauline-hanson-to-attend-the-diva-awards

  12. @Simon: I don’t see anywhere that DIVA is saying it was the fault of the drag queens.

    Regardless of who is at fault, the situation has been made clear. She is not coming.

    Enjoy the party :)

  13. Questions the SSO journalists should be asking the DIVA people : The approach to Pauline Hanson was pre-announced on the Guide to Gay site at 10.50am on Wednesday in press release language. If no “official” approach was made to Pauline Hanson, who supplied this PR – who wrote it, and approved it? The Thursday announcement seems to leave the action in the hands of the two drag queens who carried it out. Did they write the press release, or did someone from DIVA ? Is it easier to leave the blame at the hands of two young drag queens, rather than admit an organisational and PR stuffup ?

  14. @Rebecca, I hardly think it’s up to DIVA to condemn Pauline Hanson in any, shape or form. People thought that DIVA had asked her to be involved with their event when they hadn’t. All DIVA needed to do it set the record ‘straight’, not get into politics, which is exactly what they did. It stands for Drag Industry Variety Awards, nothing political. Save that for AME, Mardi Gras etc. Cut them some slack; they’re trying to put on an awards night and party to celebrate drag and if they didn’t care, they wouldn’t be putting in the hours and effort for absolutely no $$$…

  15. Oliver, Reverend Nile is also a polite person with a lot of opinions on gay people – he’s entitled to misguided view, but not to the DIVA awards.

  16. Ive met and talked to Pauline Hanson on two occasions and she is in fact a nice person. In a democracy, shes entitled to her opinion as is the next person.

  17. I think its a bit stupid and rather disgusting that the DIVA committee used these two boys/girls to try and get publicity at their expense.

    Now in the eyes of the public they are the ones who look like they have done something wrong when according to the first press release it was infact DIVA who sent them, as representitives to ask her to come. Shame on you DIVAS, what once was a great thing has gone into the garbage disposal.

  18. A lot of people have different views about us from what they had 20 years ago. There is still a lot of raw hurt for those who have faced discrimination. It will take time to heel. Pauline has changed a lot. Pauline still has a lot of supporters, and she brings them with her on her road to redemption, as she changes her views, so do many of her supporters.

    I have heard many times from people who have come out and said “how so and so did not take it well, but now we get on fine.” I would not want to shut anyone out forever who sees the wrongs of their ways, and the hurt they have caused.

  19. “The DIVA Awards celebrate and promote tolerance towards the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community, and are happy to do so even if it comes from unexpected quarters,” the statement read.

    That’s a weak and pathetic ‘distancing’ statement from DIVA. “Happy to do so” even when the “unexpected quarters” come in the person of one of this country’s leading racist bigots who is an advocate for racial and cultural intolerance. You’re known by the company you keep and being willing to keep this sort of company speaks volumes.

    Not good enough, DIVA. How about issuing a statement condemning Hanson’s bigoted views?