An Australian politician fell victim to a photo prank on Facebook that resulted in “liking” a picture of a 16-year-old boy’s testicles. Peter Collier has since apologized, claiming that the photo looked innocent enough to him when he liked it in late 2011.
What happened to Collier could happen to all of us. You see a nice picture on Facebook of a group of people and you think “oh, that’s lovely. I like that!” and so you like it. But lurking in the shadows are exposed testicles.
“Sneaky nuts” is a prank that involves sneakily showing one’s balls in a photograph, you know, by putting them through the zipper or something at the last minute. It’s kind of like a photobomb, but with your balls. Yeah, it’s not the internet’s best moment for sure.
Collier, a Liberal member of the Western Australian Legislative Council who currently serves Minister for Energy; Training and Workforce Development, says that he was simply tricked by a sneaky photo.
Hence the “sneaky nuts” part:
“At first glance it appeared to be a harmless picture. It was a silly mistake on my part. I only became aware of the actual content of the photo when shown by a journalist…This obviously highlights the pitfalls of social media. I apologise if I caused any offense,” said Collier in a statement.
The apology wasn’t enough for Labor Party MP sue Ellery, who has called for an investigation.
“This is a man who is a senior minister in charge of the professional standards of dealing with young people and young people’s use of social media,” she said.
It looks like politics are the same no matter where you go.
