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Dave Hughes drums up debate with Victorian lockdown message
Comedian Dave ‘Hughesy’ Hughes has well and truly stirred the pot with a tweet about Melbourne’s lockdown easing going viral.
One half of Hit FM’s Hughesy & Ed duo, the 49-year-old proved he’s very much able to set tongues wagging when he added his voice to those criticising Dan Andrews’ government for green-lighting a racecourse meet of one thousand people the same weekend AFL Grand Final viewing parties were being restricted to the same household, and funerals remain capped at ten people.
The decision to allow the meet was scrapped this morning, the government explaining it was too ‘unpopular’ with Victorians.
Hughesy under fire for AFL suggestion
While plenty of high-profile Aussies took to social media with their outrage, Hughesy has copped heat after some argued he was suggesting the city’s lockdown should be eased to allow fans to watch the footy with their mates.
“Hey @DanielAndrewsMP,” the comedian tweeted on Tuesday before the decision was reversed.
“You probably can’t remember who made ‘Horse owner crews can party at Melb race track this weekend’ decision but as Covid now appears less of a concern for you, maybe also ‘Two families can enjoy [AFL] grand final this Saturday together’?”
The scathing tweet stirred up debate, much of it from people who argued the comedian had also profited off relaxed rules when it came to filming The Masked Singer in the state, calling his critique ‘hypocritical’.
“Dave Hughes was oddly silent about uniform rules when he could film his singer tv show in the middle of weeks of hundreds of daily cases, even when the show had an outbreak,” one pointed out. “Now that’s wrapped up he can channel his efforts into inciting the mob to be aggrieved.”
“A reminder that Dave Hughes' show #TheMaskedSinger was granted special COVID exemptions to proceed, including special quarantine arrangements for Danni Minogue,” another agreed. “It was also the site of an outbreak.”
Others argued his call for the AFL grand final allowance was also irresponsible.
“Of course we Victorians would love to enjoy the AFL GF either at the game or with family and friends,” one person wrote. “But it cannot happen to safeguard the health of our great State. Please get off your populist high horse & go the journey with us all!”
Hughesy later clarified it was the retraction of the racing decision and not the AFL final the tweet was meant to highlight, though in the same thread he tweeted: “Two family @afl GF viewing parties allowed and I’ll be...” punctuated with a celebration emoji.
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Others disagreed, saying that when it came to the horse racing allowance, the comedian was making a point many agreed with, calling the response an overreaction.
“There’s a Twitter police operation currently underway in response to a critical incident,” one Twotter user joked. “Sources say that Dave Hughes has criticised the Victorian lockdown. Please stay away from the area until further notice.”
“It was the "bleating" that made the government change the ridiculous decision,” another wrote in response to someone suggesting the comedian had ‘bleated too early’.
“They admitted they changed it because it was unpopular. People appreciate people like Dave using their profile to call out this type of nonsense.”
It comes after fellow Melburnian Bec Judd was slammed earlier in the week for appearing on her Instagram sporting a ‘Free Melbourne’ T-shirt on the back of calling Dan Andrews ‘dictator Dan’ in social media posts.
The move was branded ‘out of touch’ from the millionaire.
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