First Grader
PRIME Minister John Howard says he's not offended by images of him being burned along with a Union Jack flag in a music video for boxer Anthony Mundine.
The openly political video for Mundine's hip-hop single Platinum Ryder, filmed in the notorious Sydney area known as The Block, shows indigenous residents tearing up Mr Howard's photograph and tossing it into a barrel of flames.
A Union Jack meets the same fate.
The burning takes place against the background of Mundine's rags to riches rap lyrics: "I am just one man, it ain't the whole of the nation, politicians won't say sorry for the stolen generation."
Mr Howard said today he was not offended by the video.
"I know Mr Mundine's form in relation to me ... I don't get too worked up about that," Mr Howard said.
"I don't think it's a particularly desirable thing to burn the flag of any country whether it's Australia or a country to which we owe a great deal."
Mr Howard said while it was easy for people to take pot shots at the Union Jack, Australia had inherited many great traditions from the United Kingdom.
"But as a citizen he is entitled to his form of protest and if he draws some kind of satisfaction of burning a photograph of me, well I'm not so thin-skinned as to get worked up about it," he said.
Platinum Ryder is already being played on Sydney FM hip-hop station 961, but will be released to television within the next month.
Mundine's album, Dreams, will be launched following his WBA super middleweight world title fight against Australian rival Sam Soliman in Sydney on March 7.
The openly political video for Mundine's hip-hop single Platinum Ryder, filmed in the notorious Sydney area known as The Block, shows indigenous residents tearing up Mr Howard's photograph and tossing it into a barrel of flames.
A Union Jack meets the same fate.
The burning takes place against the background of Mundine's rags to riches rap lyrics: "I am just one man, it ain't the whole of the nation, politicians won't say sorry for the stolen generation."
Mr Howard said today he was not offended by the video.
"I know Mr Mundine's form in relation to me ... I don't get too worked up about that," Mr Howard said.
"I don't think it's a particularly desirable thing to burn the flag of any country whether it's Australia or a country to which we owe a great deal."
Mr Howard said while it was easy for people to take pot shots at the Union Jack, Australia had inherited many great traditions from the United Kingdom.
"But as a citizen he is entitled to his form of protest and if he draws some kind of satisfaction of burning a photograph of me, well I'm not so thin-skinned as to get worked up about it," he said.
Platinum Ryder is already being played on Sydney FM hip-hop station 961, but will be released to television within the next month.
Mundine's album, Dreams, will be launched following his WBA super middleweight world title fight against Australian rival Sam Soliman in Sydney on March 7.
