Well this is sort of creepy. Qantas’ CEO, Alan Joyce, was giving a speech in Perth this week at a business conference, when suddenly a guy in a suit walked up on stage, and pie’d him in the face (with a lemon meringue pie, for anyone who was wondering what kind). After the incident, Joyce walked off stage to change, and then returned a few minutes later.
The guy who pied him in the face was questioned by police, though I haven’t heard anything else regarding that (I assume pieing someone in the face is probably assault, though I’m no expert on the law, let alone in Australia).
Am I the only one who finds this sort of creepy? It’s one thing if a teenager or someone were doing it as a prank, but a full grown man with an angry look on his face pieing a CEO during a conference is pretty low, if you ask me. As much as I don’t like many things the airlines are doing (and I know Qantas isn’t very popular in some circles), expressing yourself this way crosses the line, in my opinion.
Kudos to Alan Joyce for how he handled himself in this situation.
@ Ryan
And so he should be charged ...but that decision should have been made by the police. Assault someone in front of 500 witnesses , not as if there's a lack of evidence. The fact that Joyce himself is a creepy little toad is irrelevant.
He IS pressing charges:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-05-10/qantas-boss-alan-joyce-to-press-charges-against-pie-thrower/8513596
Good on Alan and Qantas support marriage equality in Australia! I think Alan is doing a good job for turning around Qantas!
Joyce will press charges and rightly so. You don't have to approve of same sex-marriage but if you choose to assault someone because you don't like his opinion, you deserve to get prosecuted to the full amount of the law. Also, just because Joyce is a CEO and you maybe don't like Qantas (I am not a big fan myself), doesn't make it ok to assault him. And no, while United's actions have been despicable...
Joyce will press charges and rightly so. You don't have to approve of same sex-marriage but if you choose to assault someone because you don't like his opinion, you deserve to get prosecuted to the full amount of the law. Also, just because Joyce is a CEO and you maybe don't like Qantas (I am not a big fan myself), doesn't make it ok to assault him. And no, while United's actions have been despicable recently, it wouldn't be ok to assault Mr. Munoz either (he should be fired but that's a different story).
'Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce has said he intends to press charges against a man who hit him in the face with a pie....
A man identified by local media as the attacker later criticised the airline chief's support for same-sex marriage, which is not legal in Australia.
"I will have every intention of pressing charges," Mr Joyce said.
Police charged the 67-year-old man with giving false details after the incident, which happened in front of 500 people. He may yet face an assault charge, police told the BBC....'
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-39866931
So it seems this guy pied Joyce because of QANTAS public stand on supporting equal right marriage.
The offender is against corporate promotion of the cause.
He is now very emabarrssed and has since appologised. His wife also took him to task and rightly so...
Yes, it's called 'common assault' down here. @Kyall is right - he was charged overnight at this point only with failing to provide police with correct information. However, Joyce has since come out & said that he did intend to press charges & felt that it was his duty to do so due to the alarming increase in Australia with these (and worse) type of assaults occurring.
He only got charged with providing police with the wrong details.
Didn't get hanged for assault.
God bless Australia
Yep, it's assault here but I doubt Joyce will want to give it too much air space by having the police lay charges. There have been no updates overnight about the reason for this, except that the man is being psychologically examined.
The bigger concern is how he managed to get close enough to do that. What if it had been a knife?
@Jo, you can't protect all people at all times. He's just a CEO, not a Diplomat. Crap will occasionally happen.
Don't know about Aussie law, but definitely assault in most US jurisdictions (technically battery at common law)
@Steve - It is technically a crime in Australia, although it's not likely that Joyce would press charges.
In Western Australia, "assault" is defined as follows: "A person who strikes, touches, or moves, or otherwise applies force of any kind to the person of another, either directly or indirectly, without his consent... is said to assault that other person, and the act is called an assault... The term applies force includes the case of applying...
@Steve - It is technically a crime in Australia, although it's not likely that Joyce would press charges.
In Western Australia, "assault" is defined as follows: "A person who strikes, touches, or moves, or otherwise applies force of any kind to the person of another, either directly or indirectly, without his consent... is said to assault that other person, and the act is called an assault... The term applies force includes the case of applying heat, light, electrical force, gas, odour, or any other substance or thing whatever if applied in such a degree as to cause injury or personal discomfort."
So it pretty clearly covers smacking someone in the face with a pie.
@ Tom, do you live in Australia? If not, please kindly shut up and stop commenting on things you don't understand.
Why would you think that this was not a crime? Of course it's a crime. Try it yourself and see if you don't get arrested.
I believe as far as most Australians morally concern, I think most will be pretty light hearted in a situation like this, It would be much different though if he king hit him with a closed fist or stabbed him with a knife or struck him with a weapon or intended to cause some grievous type of harm,
I think if this happened in American they would probably try to sue the arse off...
I believe as far as most Australians morally concern, I think most will be pretty light hearted in a situation like this, It would be much different though if he king hit him with a closed fist or stabbed him with a knife or struck him with a weapon or intended to cause some grievous type of harm,
I think if this happened in American they would probably try to sue the arse off the offender or get the harshest criminal charges laid on him. The fact that this happened to a man of some stature on camera the Aussie authorities may look into a little further but I really doubt there will be any serious criminal convictions made, The law proceedings and repocussions for the offender will most likely be minimal. Media attention will have also have less hype.
Be a lot different if this happened in the US to a CEO such as United's Oscar Muniz.
On a side note the pie thrower might be jealous Joyce's salary went up from $1M to $12M in one financial year, or maybe he missed out on Qantas last double status credits promotion..??. :-p
waste of a delicious pie. should have used rotten tomatoes instead
Parker and Kirby please.
Make it a double.
Someone tried this on Rupert Murdoch but he ended up getting a punch in the face from Wendy Deng (Murdoch).
It's a very silly thing to do, but Joyce is a particularly unsympathetic character.
Ask our former Pie Minister, Jean Chrétien.
Probably a hired goon working for one of the unions. Regardless, it's assault, and that's a crime anywhere.
"expressing yourself this way crosses the line, in my opinion."
Lol ya think?
honestly tho he kinda deserved it
Legally, hitting someone in the face with a pie is assault, so if Joyce pressed charges the guy could be arrested.
I wonder if this was an angry shareholder or maybe some sort of stunt for publicity or TV.
A noble tradition: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dS91gT3XT_A