Australian Prime Minister is mocked on social media for Photoshop fail dubbed 'shoegate'

Scott Morrison is mocked for having two left feet in doctored family portrait – and his comeback is brilliant

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison poses for a family portrait, which was later doctored, giving him two left feet. 

Instagram influencers aren't the only ones getting heat for faking their photographs. It seems the practice of doctoring images is also rife in the upper echelons of political society.

Scott Morrison, the Australian Prime Minister, has appeared in a family portrait with two left feet and a pair of Photoshopped shoes. It was an attempt to cover up the leader's old and dirty trainers. Naturally, news of the Photoshop fail has gone viral on social media and has been dubbed #shoegate.

The original photo has now been restored.

A spokesperson said the prime minister did not request the alteration. "The photo was doctored by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet without the knowledge of, or authorisation by, the PM or the PM's office," he said.

Morrison responded playfully to the debacle. He posted a photo of the original shoes and wrote: "Message to my Department (PM&C): I didn't ask for the shoeshine, but if you must Photoshop, please focus on the hair (lack thereof), not the feet!"

People were impressed with his response – even those who aren't fans. Twitter user Chris Rosser said: "I don't like the man, but I can't think of a better response he could have done to #shoegate. Well played"

Other Twitter users doctored some photos of their own.

In September 2018 Morrison caused another social media storm when he deleted a video on his accounts showing lawmakers raising their hands in parliament to the lyrics from US rapper Fatman Scoop's hit song Be Faithful. He issued a Twitter apology saying the full lyrics were derogatory and "just not OK".

"It's quite clear that that is not a song on my playlist," he later told reporters.

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