Channel Seven star and footy fans slam AFL for playing explicit Aussie rock song at Brownlow Medal 45
Channel Seven star and footy fans slam AFL for playing explicit Aussie rock song at Brownlow Medal 46
Channel Seven star and footy fans slam AFL for playing explicit Aussie rock song at Brownlow Medal 47
Channel Seven star and footy fans slam AFL for playing explicit Aussie rock song at Brownlow Medal 48
Channel Seven stars and football fans slam AFL for playing Australian rock classic with explicit lyrics about sex and drugs to open Brownlow Medal ceremony
The AFL chose ‘The Boys Light Up’ to open the Brownlow Medal on Sunday nightMany criticized the choice given the graphic gender and drug references in the songTop Channel 7 pundit Andy Maher was a vocal critic on social media
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The AFL has come under fire over a highly questionable song choice, which many fans labeled ‘highly inappropriate’, to open the Brownlow Medal ceremony on Sunday night.
Australian singer James Reyne, who rose to fame as the frontman for cult rock band Australian Crawl, opened the count with the group’s hit song ‘The Boys Light Up’, which contains many graphic references to sex and drugs.
Fans were quick to slam the AFL for the bizarre and inappropriate choice to lead into footy’s night of nights, which was broadcast at a kid-friendly time slot on Channel Seven.
Even the network’s own footy expert, Andy Maher, slammed the league over the choice of ground.
Australian singer James Reyne performs ‘The Boys Light Up’ at the start of the Brownlow Medal on Sunday night – a song choice deemed by many to be ‘completely inappropriate’
‘Interesting opening tune for an AFL feature like this. You know it’s not about playing football at night, don’t you?’ Maher wrote on Twitter in a thought echoed by Australian netball great Bianca Chatfield, who tweeted: ‘I was just thinking the same thing’.
‘The Boys Light Up’ is not a song with metaphors or hidden meanings; it is very obvious and graphic a song about sex, dildos, prostitutes and wild parties with drugs.
‘Quietly she opens the drawer, mother’s little helper comes out for more. Strategically placed before the dinner show, her back arched, her lips parched, the lyrics read in the second verse, referring to a woman using a sex toy.
The AFL has come under fire after their highly questionable song choice to open the Brownlow. The picture shows the league’s CEO Gillon McLachlan with his wife Laura
Other graphic references include: ‘hope is for the pants down’ and ‘later at the party all MP’s rave about is the lobsters she’s given’.
Incredulous football fans like Maher couldn’t believe what they were hearing.
One asked: ‘Didn’t anyone at the AFL listen to the lyrics first?’ while slamming the ‘appalling song choice … completely inappropriate’.
“Great song, maybe not the right time,” another fan pointed out on Twitter.
Sports pundit Ralph Horowitz also pointed out the hypocrisy of the situation, writing: ’40 minutes of virtue signaling, then here’s James Reyne… did anyone in the 8000 people at head office check the lyrics?’
Demons star Angus Brayshaw with partner Danielle Frawley, daughter of the late AFL legend Danny Frawley, pictured on the red carpet – but the presenters were not allowed to ask which designer Danielle was wearing
Prior to the medal, the AFL insisted that red carpet presenters Emma Freedman and Dale Thomas were not allowed to ask the women on the red carpet what they were wearing, which most considered political correctness gone mad.
All of which made the decision to include a song so inappropriate seem even more odd.
One fan found hilarity in the hypocrisy when he hit out at the AFL and their ‘woke agenda’ following the red carpet debacle.
‘The AFL and their woke agenda have just opened the Brownlow with The Boys Light Up – either the ultimate p**s-take or someone will have their an** handed to them tomorrow. Fck brilliant!’ they wrote on Twitter.
Carlton star Patrick Cripps was all smiles after winning the 2022 Brownlow Medal
A similar situation arose during this year’s State of Origin series when Australian rock band Grinspoon played their hit song ‘Hard Act to Follow’, which features the words ‘kills, thrills and Sunday pills’ in the chorus.
The choice to use that track may have been dictated by the game being played on a Sunday – but that didn’t make it any more appropriate.