FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

Food

The Shaming of Ousted PM Tony Abbott’s Love of Raw Onions Has Reached Its Peak

Now ex-Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott is being bombarded with onion imagery pertaining to his highly suspect love of eating the vegetable raw.

Get ready to scrub some shallots and pound back a few pissaladière, party people. The Allium Overlord that is Tony Abbott was just ousted from his position as Australia's Prime Minister this morning, as well as the leadership position of his own party, the Liberal Party of Australia.

The Internet's reaction?

Onions. Lots and lots of onions.

As you may or may not remember, the Australian politician has an ungodly love of all things raw onion, causing many to speculate that the dude is a Cylon, a Cossack, or some hellish combination of the two. Well, it looks as though the Australian populace certainly agrees with these theories and is now sending off the beleaguered Prime Minister with a flaming hail of onions, Viking funeral-style.

Advertisement

READ: The Internet Is Appalled at the Australian Prime Minister's Obsession with Raw Onions

After less than two years in office, the now-former Australian Prime Minister became better known for his characteristic gaffes and goofs rather than his political accomplishments.

It turns out that members of his own party grew concerned that this socially conservative "liberal" (the Liberal Party being the more conservative party in Australia) had become something of a laughing stock and would likely lose the next election.

Australians took to social media to bid farewell to Abbott by posting pictures of one of his favorite things: raw, whole onions.

In no more than 24 hours, the hashtag #putoutyouronions ripped through the interwebs, all a reference to the very special moments when Tony Abbot bit into raw onions—skin and all—and ate them as though they were apples. This most memorably happened on a farm in Tasmania during an official visit. Abbott declared the onion to be good. Very good. He was quoted as saying: "Better than any other onions I've eaten in a long time."

As word spread that today's oust was imminent, Australians went right back to the onion incident and used it as a theme for their goodbyes to their Prime Minster.

Shed a tear, take a bite for #Abbott and #putoutyouronions. Congratulations @TurnbullMalcolm #libspill #auspol pic.twitter.com/6d0ge9cVhw

— Daniel MacDonald (@danielwmacd) September 14, 2015

Advertisement

My mind is so warped by all things #Abbott that I keep reading 'opinion poll' as 'onion poll' #putoutyouronions — Georgia Love (@GeorgieALove) September 14, 2015

#putoutyouronions pic.twitter.com/g4AfvkxCoW

— Bob Earth (@bobearth) September 14, 2015

Ah, Australian politics! Such fun. Why can't we have that kind of unbridled fun here in the States?

The piece de resistance of all this Internet merriment, however, must be this: One intrepid Aussie known on Twitter as @RealFreeBrowny took the now-shattered happiness of Mr. Abbott into his own hands and decided the best path towards recovery would be a kind word from the disgraced wrestling superstar, Hulk Hogan.

And why not? In addition to having hair that we're almost certain was taken from a discarded American Girl doll, the former wrestler certainly knows a thing or two about highly publicized falls from grace. So @RealFreeBrowny cheekily tweeted to Hogan the following request: "@HulkHogan can you RT for my uncle @TonyAbbottMHR he just lost his job and is in the dumps."

And that is when the Hulkster put on his Mr. Nanny apron and got to healing by replying: "@RealFreeBrowny yo Tony keep ur head up,lean into the wind my brother ,I know the deal. HH".

(He has since been blocked by Hogan on Twitter.)

Wiser words were never spoken.

Screw a candlelight vigil. Somebody get us some black armbands and a few sacks of onions. Things just got real Down Under.