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28 April 2008

Celebrating a jihad on The Chaser

The infiltration of September's APEC summit by the boys at The Chaser's War On Everything was one of 2007's greatest moments of popular culture, on TV or anywhere else. Originally a prank that got a bit out of hand, it sent jaws dropping across Australia and achieved worldwide acclaim on YouTube.

If it weren't funny enough already, all charges relating to the incident have been dropped. The New South Wales Director of Public Prosecutions called the series of security breaches a "reasonable and honest mistake" and has conceded that there is little to no chance of conviction against any of the ABC staff involved. The link above shows, unsurprisingly, ABC's coverage of the news of their own show, along with, perhaps more surprisingly, a reaction from Osama bin Laden himself.

There's plenty of footage on YouTube of the original broadcast, but this video purports to have the whole thing. Being a big fan of The Chaser myself, I had fun today reminiscing about it. In any case,
it's good to see that satire at the expense of overbearing government incompetence isn't actually a crime in this country. At least, not yet.

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