Alex ‘Shooter’ Williamson: Australian comedian under fire for ‘disgraceful’ joke about Socceroos
An Australian comedian has come under fire for a social media post that showed Socceroos arriving in Australia on a boat while being chased by Border Force as the Australian team was eliminated from the World Cup.
Alex ‘Shooter’ Williamson posted the AI-generated image on his Instagram account on Friday, showing a group of football players coming ashore in a rusty boat driven by the Australian comedian.
A group of fans wearing distinctive green and gold jerseys appear next to the boat; some of these carry a banner reading “welcome to our future Socceroos”.
The background of the mast depicts a Border Force ship chasing the ‘Socceroos’ boat.
The post is titled: “Squatting the next generation of Socceroos on a shanty boat.”
Comments flooded the Instagram post, with Williamson criticized for appearing to joke about the real-life Socceroos’ pasts.
“Shameful. Shame on you,” one comment said.
“Not this,” said another.
“They all look 100% Aussie to me 🫡,” one comment said.
Some took aim at the fact that the image was created by artificial intelligence.
“Quit ChatGPT… This isn’t funny,” one person said.
“AI has created a mess,” said another.
“This shows your true colours,” another said.
The Socceroos were tragically eliminated from the World Cup early on Saturday, Australian time, losing to Egypt in a tense penalty shoot-out.
Williamson had already been criticized on social media this year for ‘joking’ about the death of five-year-old girl Kumanjayi Little Baby in a social media video.
In the video, which was later deleted, Williamson was seen pretending to have a phone conversation with Jefferson Lewis, the alleged killer of Kumanjayi Little Baby.
“Someone said, hey, you just got out of prison, right bro?” Williamson said.
“Yes, yes I saw your mugshot, you look good. You look good.”
Williamson then pretended to ‘ask’ Lewis to live with him and his daughter and “referred to the petrol sniffing incident”, according to the Daily Mail.
