Last night, Prime Minister Scott Morrison was the subject of a 23-minute segment on 60 Minutes that featured Karl Stefanovic visiting Morrison’s home. Throughout the piece, Stefanovic interviewed the PM and wife Jenny, touching on – among other things – their family’s ill-advised trip to Hawaii while bushfires raged across the country in early 2020.
Later on in the segment, footage showed Morrison and his family seated around a dinner table, with the PM pulling out a ukulele and proceeding to absolutely butcher ‘April Sun in Cuba’ by New Zealand rock veterans Dragon. In the cringeworthy clip, Morrison strums the uke and sings the track’s title before admitting he can’t remember the rest of the lyrics.
After it aired, Dragon reshared a video from TikTok on their Instagram account that showed Morrison playing the song superimposed in front of bushfire footage. “Once again, Dragon are famous for all the wrong reasons,” they captioned the post.
Now, the band have gone a step further. In an official statement, slamming the segment and Morrison – who has long attempted to appeal to voters with his “daggy dad” persona – describing his decision to play the song as a “cynical” move calculated to soften his image as the next federal election looms.
“Like many times before, Dragon is back in the headlines for all the wrong reasons. This time it’s The Hon. Scott Morrison, MP Prime Minister of Australia’s interpretation of April Sun in Cuba,” reads an official statement from the group. “Written by two New Zealanders living in Australia (Paul Hewson, Marc Hunter, both since passed), about a long-ago diplomatic fracas on the other side of the world.”
They continued: “It is a cynical move for a politician to co-opt music in an attempt to humanize themselves come election time. Maybe if his trip to Hawaii had not been cut short, he could have learnt the lyrics to the rest of the chorus.”
You can watch Morrison blunder his way through the song below if you’re so inclined.
.@ScottMorrisonMP has shown off his ukulele skills in an upcoming @60Mins interview with Karl! #9Today pic.twitter.com/nNZl8SCswW
— The Today Show (@TheTodayShow) February 11, 2022
