Australia’s new Prime Minister held up his hands in apology after using an explicit rap song in a video posted to his social media accounts.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison had posted an 11-second clip of the song, 1999’s “Be Faithful” by rapper Fatman Scoop, over quick edits of his parliamentary allies raising their hands in response to a question asked by Morrison.
The video was accompanied by a comment saying “QT (Question Time, an Australian parliamentary session) was on fire today… Good work team.” The comment was followed by a flame emoji.
The song features the words “You got a hundred dollar bill, get your hands up! You got a 50 dollar bill, get your hands up!”
Some of the song’s other lyrics, however, are not quite as tame, and follow questionable themes for a song that – going purely by its title – promotes monogamous relationships.
CNN won’t repeat them here, but for the curious, the song is available – along with warnings about “explicit” lyrics – on music-streaming apps.
Australian Twitter rejoiced in the poorly chosen song, with trade unionist John Setka tweeting: “Hey Scott. I hear you might have mucked up on one of your tweets? Don’t let it get you down, it happens to the best of us.”
Morrison had criticized the union leader – threatening to deregister his organization – for a crude tweet he had posted, featuring his two children holding a sign with a risqué message for the government’s Australian Building and Construction Commission.
The tweet – and Facebook post – have since been deleted, and the new premier posted again, saying that when he found out the content of the song, he had asked for it to be taken down.
“The full lyrics of the song used in my earlier video from (Question Time) today were just not OK. When I found out, I asked the team to take it down. Apologies,” Morrison, an evangelical Christian, wrote.
According to Australian national broadcaster ABC, Morrison defended the post, saying it was a “bit of fun,” and not a song that he would typically listen to himself.
He suggested Australian songstress Tina Arena was more to his musical taste.
“I think Tina Arena would get a good go, I saw her in Evita last night … she was outstanding,” Morrison said.
He added that his team was trying to make honest connections with people.
“We’re just trying to connect honestly with people, and some of the narcs will get a bit worked up about this sort of thing.
“I think Australians think politicians can take themselves a bit too seriously at times, they may even make those suggestions about others who work in Canberra, not in politics directly, perhaps in the media.”
Morrison became the country’s 30th premier – and the sixth in just a decade – following his victory in a leadership vote in August.