Lyons says he didn’t realise the slogan ‘Gas, grass or ass, no one rides for free’ was written on the shirt, but says he has no problem with the naked image

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Colourful Geelong mayor Darryn Lyons has said he regrets wearing a nude Madonna T-shirt without checking what was written on it.

Madonna appears on the shirt as a hitchhiker, wearing only high-heeled shoes and carrying a photoshopped sign that reads: “Gas, grass or ass, no one rides for free”.

Lyons, a former newspaper photographer known for his flamboyant style, wore the shirt to the city’s inaugural Oktoberfest event on Saturday.

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“I didn’t realise what was written on the logo on the T-shirt, and I probably have regret about chucking it on,” Lyons told 3AW on Monday.

Lyons said he didn’t have a problem with the image, which was taken for Madonna’s 1992 book, Sex.

“I do think it’s a sexist comment on the actual scrawl ... it’s a photoshopped image,” he said.

Lyons said he celebrated great art and the female form.

“I have a huge collection of pictures of naked women, and a big art collection with women and men and famous masters,” he said.

Tim Gooden, secretary of the Geelong Trades Hall, said the image angered Geelong women because it trashed the city’s reputation and reinforced a negative stereotype among men about women.

He said it also undermined efforts by the Geelong union movement and many others to eliminate sexism and violence against women.

“We’re talking about the mayor of Geelong, the number one citizen, an officer of the Crown who gets paid $170,000 a year and wore a shirt to a public event that is clearly offensive to people in this town,” Gooden said on Sunday.

Lyons said he wasn’t going to apologise for a “fine art situation”.