An artist has slammed the copycats who used his design to create a poster featuring alleged Bondi Beach shooter Naveed Akram with the word ‘Aussie’.
Akram is currently facing 59 charges, including 15 counts of murder and 40 counts of wounding with intent to murder, after he and his father allegedly opened fire on a crowd celebrating Hanukkah by the Sea on December 14.
Last week, about 40 posters were seen around Melbourne with Akram’s face on the day of the incident, alongside the bold, capitalised word ‘Aussie’.
The images are copies of the iconic work by high-profile artist Peter Drew, 42, and use the same font and colour palette. Mr Drew is best known for his 2016 poster series that highlighted diverse figures who are Australian as a response to rising anti-immigration sentiment.
The poster also used the Daily Mail’s exclusive news photo of Akram from the night of the massacre without written permission.
Mr Drew’s posters feature Afghan cameleer Monga Khan, a young Jewish boy, and, more recently, the great-grandfather of NSW Nationals leader Gurmesh Singh.
But, on Tuesday, the copycat was revealed as far-right influencer Hugo Lennon, also known as ‘Auspill’, who is grandson of one of Australia’s richest property developers, Tony Lennon.
‘When I issued a challenge to anyone stupid enough to put their name to the posters I didn’t think that trick would actually work,’ Mr Drew told Daily Mail.
Far-right influencer Hugo Lennon – also known as Auspill – confirmed he was the creator of the vile posters of alleged Bondi Beach shooter Naveed Akram
About 40 posters were seen across Melbourne, copying high-profile artist Peter Drew’s design
‘I feel relieved to know the posters weren’t made by anyone serious.
‘Those boys lack spirit. That’s their real problem. AUSSIE is bigger than any ideology.
‘My honest opinion; it’s just sad. These boys have their whole lives ahead of them but they’re throwing it all away for online clout.
‘I wish they had an older brother to shake some sense into them and say “Maybe don’t make posters glorifying terrorists”.’
The identity of the posters’ creator was revealed in a rambling, 22-minute video by Lennon, who claimed Mr Drew’s images of notable Australians from diverse ethnic backgrounds relayed the message anyone with ‘two eyes and a mouth’ could be a citizen.
As a result, he attempted to claim that ‘anyone’ could be Australian if they had the correct documentation or shared national values.
‘The purpose of [my] project is to expose a contradiction in contemporary discourse around national identity,’ the caption said.
This included ‘the claim that Australianness is purely civic, infinitely fluid, and detached from history, continuity, or peoplehood’.
Mr Drew (pictured) said the copycats ‘lack spirit’ and that their posters were ‘sad’
‘Rather than arguing that point abstractly, the posters place that doctrine under pressure by running it to its logical limits and observing where audiences instinctively draw lines they often refuse to articulate,’ Lennon claimed.
In the video, Lennon and fellow far-right, pro ‘March for Australia’ influencer ‘SirDoug’ were filmed walking through Melbourne to paste up posters of Akram.
They also included posters of US President Donald Trump.
Strangers, whose faces are blurred, can be seen posing beside one of the influencers who was holding the Akram poster on a bridge.
In another clip, a passerby can be heard calling out jovially to ‘Auspill’.
Dr Dvir Abramovich, chair of the Anti-Defamation Commission, told Daily Mail the posters were an insult to grieving families after the Bondi Beach terror attack.
‘What Hugo Lennon did is violence without a weapon,’ he said.
‘Taking the face of a mass murderer and pasting it onto Melbourne’s walls drags blood back onto the pavement.
Lennon’s grandfather Tony Lennon is the millionaire ex-chairman of one of Australia’s largest real estate development companies, Peet Limited (pictured, Lennon on the right with family)
‘It reopens graves. It tells grieving families that their loss is a joke, a meme, a stunt for online applause.
‘This is how extremism works in daylight. First you sanitise the killer. Then you stylise the killer.’
Victoria Police said they have launched an investigation after ‘several posters of concern’ popped up in Richmond, the CBD and its surrounds in January.
Officers have reviewed CCTV and enquiries are ongoing in relation to the offence of billposting and other, more serious offences.
Victoria Police have also liaised with Melbourne City Council regarding the incidents.
Lennon’s grandfather Tony Lennon is the millionaire ex-chairman of one of Australia’s largest real estate development companies, Peet Limited.
He retired last year but retained a sizeable shareholding, and has appeared multiple times on Western Australia’s top-50 rich list with an estimated wealth approaching half a billion dollars.
The Daily Mail has contacted Peet Limited for comment.
