Pauline Pantsdown
Pauline Pantsdown is an Australian satirist, best known for parodying Pauline Hanson, a controversial former member of federal parliament. Pantsdown's birth name was Simon Hunt, but he changed his name by deed poll so that he would appear on the electoral ballot as Pauline Pantsdown.
Pantsdown is a drag queen whose taste in fashion parodies Hanson's, and is best known for the songs "Backdoor Man" and "I Don't Like it". The song "Backdoor Man" was a huge hit on the youth radio network Triple J after its release in 1997, being played almost hourly due to a massive number of requests, making it into the 1997 hottest 100 list at number 5. However, less than a week after its release, Hanson got a court injunction against the song, claiming it was defamatory. The resulting controversy resulted in Pauline Pantsdown making an appearance at the Homebakelive music festival, complete with apparently gay half naked asian dancers. He suffered the indignity of being booed and pelted with objects and later claimed "Homophobia is alive and well in Sydney". Other observers commented that a mime with a gimmick song was a poor choice for a live music festival and that technical problems making the performance out of sync further irrated the crowd, who were standing in the open in drizzling rain.
In September 2004, after Hanson launched a campaign for the Australian Senate, the ABC was reported to be planning a challenge to the injunction. However, after public criticism from Hanson, the ABC backed down.
"Backdoor Man" [1] consists of a series of samples of Hanson's speeches stuck together to form sentences such as "I'm a backdoor man. I'm homosexual. I'm proud of it", and "I'm a backdoor man for the Ku Klux Klan with a very horrendous plan. I'm a very caring potato", parodying Hanson's conservative politics. Hanson vehemently condemned the track, claiming that the song portrayed her as a prostitute and a transsexual.
After the injunction over "Backdoor Man", Pantsdown released the follow up single "I Don't Like It" in response. Once again the song used segments of Hanson's voice to parody her, this time with equally ridiculous but less personal lyrics such as "Why can't my blood be coloured white? I should talk to some medical doctors, coloured blood is just not right". Once again the song was a hit on Triple J. It made the ARIA Top 20 list.
In 2004, on the Rock Against Howard compilation, Pantsdown released the song "I'm Sorry" under the pseudonym Little Johnny. This song used the same techniques to parody John Howard's refusal to apologise to the Aboriginal people of Australia over the stolen generation.