Lyons wore the shirt featuring Madonna as a naked hitchhiker at Geelong’s inaugural Oktoberfest event on Saturday

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Protesters will rally to demand Geelong mayor Darryn Lyons resign or be sacked for wearing at a public event a T-shirt featuring a naked image of Madonna.

Lyons, known for his flamboyant style and unorthodox efforts to promote the manufacturing city, wore the shirt to Geelong’s inaugural Oktoberfest event on Saturday.

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

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

It also undermined efforts by the Geelong union movement and many others to eliminate sexism and violence against women, he said.

“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.

“He can’t seem to understand that this is insulting, sexist, demeaning and misogynistic.”

In response to criticism of the T-shirt on social media, Lyons said on Twitter he had “no idea” what the slogan on the shirt was and did not mean to demean women by wearing it.

Darryn Lyons (@DarrynLyons) i had no idea of the slogan on yeaterdays t shirt bought years ago as a great photograph on a tshirt i certainly didnt wish to demean women!



Council colleague Jan Farrell was savage in her criticism.

“As a woman who lives and works in Geelong I am beyond offended at his ongoing disrespect for women,” she wrote on Twitter.

Victorian premier Daniel Andrews declined to comment on the calls for Lyons to resign.

“He needs to explain what he was wearing and why. I’m not going to be drawn into that,” the ABC reported. “I don’t own a T-shirt like that, therefore I wouldn’t wear one.”

The Trades Hall planned a Speak Out Against Sexism rally for the steps of Geelong City Hall at 12.30pm on Monday.

Further comment has been sought from Lyons