The blimp will fly above Parliament Square on Saturday (Photo: Yanny Bruere/PA)

On Saturday another giant inflatable will rise above Parliament Square in central London.

This one, which comes as a response to the Trump baby inflatable I helped out with earlier this year, depicts the Mayor of London in a yellow bikini – in an attempt to satirise the Mayor’s popular decision to ban body shaming adverts on the tube in 2016.

Unlike the Trump baby, with its tiny hands, nappy and miniature phone for tweeting, this latest blimp isn’t likely to have Londoners chuckling because, well, it’s not very funny.

The Mayor of London’s response to the balloon has, however, been quite amusing.




Rather than sink to the level of those attacking him – and in stark contrast to the petulance shown by Donald Trump when he faced public protest – Sadiq Khan has laughed off the inflatable, saying only that, ‘if people want to spend their Saturday looking at me in a yellow bikini they’re welcome to do so – I don’t really think yellow’s my colour though.’

Considering those proposing this inflatable were attempting to both make fun of Sadiq and prove him to be ‘undemocratic’ if he rejects the proposal, it’s fair to say it’s not going brilliantly for the new entrants in the big balloon market.

Though Sadiq is right to dismiss this poor attempt at humour, it is worth taking a moment to examine the motives of those behind the new blimp.

The inflatable Mayor has become a lightning rod for the online far right.

Not only has that meant easy money making because of coverage from outlets like Fox News and Russia Today. But it’s also been promoted by groups linked to the far right and anti-Muslim speech such as the Democratic Football Lads Alliance, The Rebel Media, and The Voice of Europe. The pro-Brexit platforms Westmonster and British Voice also shared the news and well known fringe elements like Paul Joseph Watson (YouTuber and editor of InfoWars) and Mark Collett (formerly of the BNP) have been involved too.

Then there’s those who are giving money. A quick look at the crowdfunder gives a sneak peak into of the views of some of the donors.

They range from people saying that Khan is ‘disrupting native British culture’, calling the Mayor ‘a Pakistani idiot’, and declaring that ‘Europe should be for Europeans’. This isn’t any old crowdfunder, it’s an online party for bigots.

And that’s not all. The creator of the Sadiq blimp, Yanny Bruere, has confirmed that he sent a series of tweets that are being criticised for being anti-semitic. He, however, denies that they were and told talkRadio that ‘They [the comments] weren’t anti-Semitic. That account was mine, it was deleted about eight months ago.’

While the Trump Baby was designed to bring people together in opposition to a bigoted US President – the Sadiq balloon has been created and supported by those who preach Trump’s divisive gospel.



We wanted to have a bit of fun, and show solidarity with people affected by dangerous policy making, while this new crew are the beneficiaries and enablers of the rising fascist tide.

While some might label us hypocrites, here at Trump Baby HQ we’re not interested in getting involved in an inflatable fight – but we are keen that the many media outlets covering the Sadiq balloon take the politics behind it seriously, and engage with the fact that at least some of those backing it support dangerous right-wing politics.

We were asked over and over why we decided to create the Trump baby, and our answer was that we were united in disdain for the politics of hate. We want to see those on Parliament Square on Saturday asked the very same questions – and have their real reasons for attacking London’s first ever Muslim mayor truly exposed.

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