Qantas apologises for racist \'blackface\' stunt on Twitter

Canberra,Mon Aug 29 2011(Tehelkanesw)

Qantas Airways has issued an apology for their 'racist' stunt of awarding free tickets to the Rugby Union Bledisloe Cup, to two men who 'blacked up' to impersonate their favourite player.The men promised to turn up to the international match, staged in Brisbane on Saturday night, dressed as their favourite player, Radike Samo, an Australian of Fijian heritage.

They promised to wear face-paint and an Afro wig in exchange for the free tickets, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.Qantas\'s Twitter account then tweeted an image of the two men, saying they had 'lived up to their promise! Goodwork'.The airline, however, immediately took down the photo, sending apologetic tweets to people who said it was racist.

Stephen Ryan, the chairman of the NSW Aboriginal Land Council, said he was shocked by the behaviour of the men, but more stunned that Qantas 'wouldn\'\'t have known such a stunt could backfire'.

"It\'s hard to believe that a company that has used Aboriginal iconography to try and improve its image didn\'t know that this could easily be construed as racist," Ryan said."There\'s nothing funny about the demonisation of indigenous people by non-indigenous people. Never has been, never will be," he added.

"It\'s hard to believe that a company that has used Aboriginal iconography to try and improve its image didn\'t know that this could easily be construed as racist," Ryan said.








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