ABC snarls at ‘blatant’ use of beloved Bluey
Source: One Nation
The ABC will take legal action over a One Nation video that shows beloved TV character Bluey being run over by a car.
The Australian cartoon dog beloved around the world appears in an episode of One Nation’s Please Explain series, where it was hit by a car driven by former Victorian premier Daniel Andrews with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in the passenger seat.
It’s implied the battered Bluey mows down Andrews and Albanese later in the episode, which is titled “The state of Melbourne”.
ABC managing director Hugh Marks told a Senate estimates hearing on Tuesday it was a “shocking use of Australia’s most loved character”.
“Probably the globally most-loved character in a video that is both shocking and disrespectful to the children of Australia,” he said.
“I can’t substantiate it either legally, or on the basis of its usage.”
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Labor senator Varun Ghosh described Bluey’s use as “heinous”, particularly after last week’s alleged attack on independent MP Helen Haines, where she was hit by a car and lost both legs.
To Marks’ knowledge, One Nation had not licensed Bluey’s likeness from BBC Studios, which distributes the TV show. It could still be entitled to show the character under fair use provisions if Please Explain is considered satire or parody.
But the ABC boss didn’t think that defence would suffice.
“It’s not a parody of any Bluey work, it’s not a minor use of the [intellectual property]. In my view, it is an infringement of the intellectual property,” he said.
“I think it’s a blatant use.
“We will be taking further action. I can assure you.”
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The broadcaster will send One Nation a cease and desist letter demanding the video be taken down. Marks flagged that damages might also be sought.
The party has used Bluey in another Please Explain episode about Queensland, where the dog did not drive into any politicians.
One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce said the cartoons were satire and were not meant to be taken seriously.
“You get to a point where you are sanitising beyond satire and you are starting to put restrictions on us,” he told ABC TV on Tuesday.
“You’ve got to have some form of tolerance.”
Joyce has previously apologised for another One Nation cartoon calling Liberal frontbencher and former Special Air Services soldier Andrew Hastie a “traitor”.
The episode remains on YouTube.
Party leader Pauline Hanson has also said sorry for a Please Explain episode making fun of Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie, which has been taken down.
-with AAP
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