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Photoshop fail gives Aussie leader two left feet in official portrait

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Image used with permission by copyright holder

At first glance, your eyes are probably drawn toward the sneakers worn by Australian prime minister Scott Morrison in the family portrait released by his office this week.

It’s not so much their super-white appearance, but the fact that the leader of the antipodean nation appears to have two left feet. Yes, it’s a Photoshop fail.

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It turned out that the photo edit was an attempt to put a pair of newer, cleaner sneakers on Morrison’s feet as the real pair were apparently too scuffed and dirty for a family portrait. Decide for yourself …

Image used with permission by copyright holder

The prime minister hadn’t asked for the picture to be Photoshopped, and didn’t know anything about it until someone told him, a government spokesperson said.

“The photo was doctored by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet without the knowledge of, or authorization by, the PM or the PM’s office,” the spokesperson confirmed.

Of course, this being the age of social media, there was no way Morrison was going to get away with this particular photographic calamity, and it wasn’t long before the blunder started trending on Twitter with the hashtag shoegate.

The Aussie leader was quick to demonstrate that he could see the funny side, tweeting a close-up picture of the sneakers that he wore, their grubbiness confirming why his team had decided to embark on what turned out to be a rather hopeless edit.

“Message to my Department,” Morrison wrote. “I didn’t ask for the shoeshine, but if you must Photoshop, please focus on the hair (lack thereof), not the feet!”

It’s not the first time Morrison’s office has slipped up when trying to communicate with the masses. In September 2018, his team deleted a video from his social media accounts after realizing that the hip-hop song accompanying it contained explicit lyrics.

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Trevor Mogg
Trevor Mogg
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