Three feminists and a comedian hosted an event. It went horribly ...

A prank featuring a member of comedy duo The Inspired Unemployed and three high-profile Australian feminists went awry on Wednesday night, with audience members furious at what they labelled a “fake event” that was “triggering” and “painfully unfunny”.

Promoted on social media under the title Love Unboxed, the free event held at The Neilson on Sydney’s Walsh Bay, promised an evening of “insightful discourse and thought-provoking discussions as renowned feminists Antoinette Lattouf, Clementine Ford and Yumi Stynes engage in a lively conversation on the intricacies of sex, love, relationships and marriage”.

Also in attendance, the promotion noted, would be “a special guest offering his perspective as a young male”.

That guest turned out to be Jack Steele, co-founder (with Matt Ford) of the comedy group The Inspired Unemployed, who boast more than 2 million followers on Instagram.

As the discussion unfolded – with seemingly serious intent on the part of the women – Steele received his orders via earpiece from the rest of the Inspired Unemployed team. And for many of the people in the audience – many of them longtime fans of the women on stage, with a deep interest in feminism – the responses were infuriating.

According to one witness, who posted about the night on Instagram, when he was asked a question about consent, Steele replied, “Yeah, chicks dig consent.”

Noting that all three women were published authors, Steele said, “Oh yeah, I really like girl writers” – to audible groans from the audience.

On the topic of the glass ceiling, former plasterer Steele noted that “as a tradie” he knew bamboo was not a good material to build houses with, and nor was glass. By the halfway point, it had become too much for some in the 100-plus audience, and they began to leave.

Steele’s attendance had actually been orchestrated as part of a skit for the second season of the TV show (Impractical) Jokers. Based on a US format, the show revolves around pranks in which the cast members (now four) push the limits of embarrassment by placing each other in awkward situations, giving orders via earpiece to the patsy, who has to do as directed, and recording the experience with hidden cameras. The aim is to extract maximum “punishment” from the subject.

“It’s simple,” they explain in the first season, which dropped on Paramount+ last year. “Obey the command, do what you’re told; otherwise you will get punished.”

According to one source involved in the event, who was not authorised to speak publicly, while the women on the panel were in on the joke, Steele had no idea what he was walking into.

“When he saw the situation, his face just dropped,” the source said. “The idea of being on a panel with three strong, smart, opinionated women was his idea of hell.”

For the three women, who have often been subjected to vile abuse from their critics, participating in the show might have seemed like a light-hearted change of pace, and perhaps a way to reach a broader audience. Instead, it provoked angry reactions from some of their staunchest fans, who felt that they, not Steele, were the butt of the joke.

There had been signs in the room indicating that the event would be filmed, but no detail was given beyond that, and as questions came from the floor, one woman said she felt the audience should have been informed beforehand about the true nature of the evening. “It comes down to consent,” she added, to approval and applause from the audience.

It was, said another, “a shit show”, but one she was willing to forgive because of the body of work behind the three women, and “because we love you”.

As the audience applauded, Steele squirmed uncomfortably in his chair, then rose and walked out of the room. “I’m really sorry, guys,” he said as he departed. “From the bottom of my heart, I’m sorry.”

The women then stayed behind and conducted a genuine Q&A session, with around half the original audience staying behind for another 45 minutes or so. For some, it wasn’t enough to redeem the evening or address the sense of betrayal they felt.

“Just wasted an hour of my time which I’ll never get back,” wrote one attendee on Clementine Ford’s Instagram. “The poor woman sitting behind me was crying … I’ll be OK, but this show probably should have come with a trigger warning.”

“Unfortunately, any opportunity for insightful discourse was overshadowed by the painfully unfunny man who made a complete mockery of what could have been a really interesting panel,” wrote another. “Very poorly executed ‘bit’ at the expense of the audience. So disappointing.”

“Your voice has been a beacon of inspiration for many, including myself,” another noted, addressing Ford directly. “To witness your participation in a prank show, where the very essence of feminism seemed to be twisted and exploited for laughs, was disheartening, to say the least ... to be witness to your complicity in that is so disheartening. It sends a message that our voices and experiences are not worthy of serious consideration, but merely fodder for entertainment.”

Maybelline San Juan, who was present and recorded audio of the event, told this masthead she felt disappointed by it.

“I walked into a room that was supposed to be a safe space and felt violated by being part of this unfunny ‘prank’ where hateful speech was being spewed to film my reaction for entertainment,” she said.

“Not to further the angry-feminist stereotype, but I am angry about the fact that I had my time wasted, and had to, ironically, walk home late at night facing the dangers that were being made fun of by a white man.”

The Inspired Unemployed, Warner Bros International Television Production Australia (which makes the show), and the three panellists have all been contacted for comment.

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