Melbourne Radio Host Still Trying To Ascertain If 22-Year-Old 'Jesus Is A C--t' Shirt Is Offensive

Cradle Of Filth

As Rolling Stone pointed out really not that long ago, Cradle Of Filth's infamous 'Jesus Is A Cunt' T-shirt design turned 22 years old this year, but the passage of time has done nothing to deaden the apparently still sharp sting of the deliberately provocative threads for some segments of society.

The latest voice to champion those outraged by the extreme metal band's merchandised assertion that Christ could have maybe been a bit of a dick comes from none other than 3AW 693 host and serial cloud-yeller Neil Mitchell (also known for his challenges to Confession's 'Fuck Cancer' posters and Ouroboros' reception of a $20,000 grant back in 2012), who today fielded a call from concerned listener Mark.

Mark, who was "really disgusted" by the apparel, had seen the infamous slogan on the back of a fellow shopper's hoodie and simply had to let the radio know about it, saying he was "blown away" and that it was "beyond anything I have seen as reasonable".

Bear in mind that this design was first printed in 1993, and has become so well known that it's probably better recognised for being featured in a Reddit-favourite pic instead of actually causing anyone any serious heartache.

In Mark's defense, however, it seems the woman wearing the hoodie at the time the photo was snapped was in fact an employee of the store, raising several supplementary issues that all have to do with workplace standards — as well as some apparently still-very-real laws pertaining to public decency.

As the director of the Legal Rights Project at the Institute Of Public Affairs, Simon Breheny, told the station: "There is still a law on the books in Victoria, the Summary Offences Act, Section 17, which does give the police a provision which they can use against people that wear these sorts of T-shirts or use this sort of language in public. In private, it's a different situation, but certainly in public.

"They'd have to prove that the material, the T-shirt in this case, was objectively offensive, or it was indecent, or it used threatening language … Profane, indecent or obscene language will count, as well as threatening, abusive or insulting words," he continued. 

"You could certainly make the case that this is profane or indecent."

After Mitchell pressed Breheny as to whether "the fact it's sacrilege" would have "any relevance or not", the IPA man replied that "certainly you'd get them, in this case, on two counts; one is, well, it's used the C-word, which is clearly a profane word, and also, is it obscene [Mitchell corrects: 'sacrilegious'] because it refers to Jesus?"

If the woman involved — or anyone else out and about sporting potentially offensive threads — were to be pulled up for their wardrobe choice and found to have breached Section 17, they'd face a fine of about $1000 (just a heads up if you've got any plans for your post-#libspill wardrobe).

Have a listen to what Breheny had to say, as well as the option to hear the full segment, below.