The organisers of Australia’s annual right-wing conference CPAC have quietly removed references to Luna Park from their website after originally claiming that the iconic Sydney venue was hosting the event.
After taking a hiatus, the conservative Coachella was scheduled to return in October, featuring a line-up of speakers from the international MAGA speaker circuit and even a surprise guest (whose identity, Crikey previously reported, was likely accidentally revealed by their website).
Organisers promoted the conference at the “Family Friendly Luna Park” on their Facebook, Twitter and website, even featuring the venue’s famous smiling face entrance in their Facebook advertising.
The only problem? Luna Park says that it’s not hosting the event.
“Please be assured that CPAC is not a confirmed event booking at Luna Park, and that contact has been made with the organisers to seek removal of all of Luna Park Sydney affiliated branding and imagery. This event is not associated with Luna Park Sydney in any way,” page moderators wrote in response to multiple negative comments. These responses have since been deleted. Luna Park Sydney did not respond to Crikey‘s request for comment.
CPAC has since removed references to Luna Park from its website, although the organisation has not addressed the change. Neither CPAC nor its founder Andrew Cooper responded to requests for comment.
Cooper, however, looks like he’s about to break his silence. In an email sent to a CPAC mailing list this afternoon, Cooper foreshadowed an appearance on Rowan Dean’s Sky News show tonight to talk about a “seemingly deliberate twisting of words and images to cast a vile shadow over CPAC’s reputation”.
The email’s subject line? “CPAC ATTACKED BY CANCEL CULTURE.”
