APRA Song Comp In Anti-Abbott Censorship Storm

The news that Isabella Manfredi of The Preatures had won the $50,000 Vanda & Young Song Competition has been soured by allegations that a picture circulated to media of Manfredi celebrating the win was allegedly photoshopped to remove an anti-Tony Abbott sentiment.

TheMusic.com ran the picture in the story this morning in the exact form that it was supplied to us by a public relations company.

The picture, which shows Manfredi in between APRA CEO Brett Cottle and second place recipient Robert Conley, was circulated to media this morning with Manfredi wearing a t-shirt that read “F**K #sexappeal”, a reference to a recent incident where Opposition leader Abbott described a Liberal candidate as having “sex appeal”.

It has since been alleged that the image has been digitally altered to remove the word “Abbott” from the image.

The original t-shirt

This afternoon theMusic.com.au has not recieved comment from competition organisers APRA. APRA diverted calls to the external PR company, saying their communiciations division was unavailable.

A spokesperson from Alberts, who sponsor the competition, declined to comment.

The PR company was alerted of the potential censorship by theMusic.com.au and are awaiting further word from APRA themselves.

At this stage it is not clear when the image was altered.

The alleged doctoring of the image emerged when Manfrendi posted on her Facebook that she took “the opportunity yesterday to up it to the big man, Mr Abbott, and his sex appeal gaff (sic). Unfortunately my t-shirt (which I woke up VERY early to make) was censored in all photos, which I find both amusing and upsetting. Is this Australian media at its worst? Or were they just being polite?”

It is believed that Manfredi was not notified that the image would be changed before being sent to media.

The band have opted not to talk to theMusic are are believed to be preparing a statement.

The judging panel for the competition, which claims to be the richest first prize for a song competition anywhere in the world, includes Jenny Morris, Kevin Mitchell (Bob Evans, Jebediah), Adalita, Stavros Yiannoukas (Bluejuice), Kav Temperly (Eskimo Joe), Brendan Gallagher and Jon Stevens, amongst others.