The Daily Mail, a known tabloid publication, didn’t hesitate in falsely portraying a group of rappers as members of an Australian street gang.
The bold act of misrepresentation was uncovered by Media Watch, “Australia’s leading forum for media analysis and comment.” The Twitter account for the organization shared a side-by-side photo of the image The Daily Mail Australia used in their story and an image Section Boyz shared on Twitter.
The rap group has a hearty following in the UK and recently collaborated with Chris Brown’s OHB crew on the Attack The Block mixtape.
Outside of the fact that The Daily Mail blurred the faces of those in the image, both photos are exactly the same.
Dangerously enough, the caption for The Daily Mail’s hijacked photo states: “‘What’s stopping them from killing you?’ Victims of Apex Gang say they no longer feel safe in their homes – as Melbourne’s youth crime epidemic soars.”
And according to Media Watch, The Daily Mail was previously warned about such misrepresentation.
“Hey @DailyMailAU – your APEX gang pic is actually a UK rap band. Which we also we told you about last November. #mediawatch,” Media Watch tweeted in the caption to their side-by-side photo.
After Media Watch put The Daily Mail Australia on blast with their tweet, it wasn’t long before the rest of Twitter joined in.
Those on the social networking site went on to sarcastically question why The Daily Mail didn’t opt for photos of The Jackson 5 or Fat Albert and crew for their story.
Well if the shoe fits (they black so yeah of course they gang bangin)
Section boyz rap about selling dope, guns and all the stuff gangs do so whats the difference? they portray themselves as criminals read their lyrics “you can catch me in the trap with chris brown and rita ora” an obvious reference to cocaine and heroine, just like how people call cocaine miley because its white. heroine brown like chris brown duh lol stop acting like these boyz make love songs promoting peace.