Student union oppresses gorillas, says man in ape suit
Subtitle
Erika Meere
CUP Quebec Bureau Chief
Photo courtesy of CUP.
MONTREAL (CUP) — A would-be presidential candidate for McGill’s student union is protesting a decision to exclude him from the election campaign, arguing that he faced discrimination against gorillas.
Ed Petrenko, who prefers to be called “Gorilla Q. Everyman,” submitted his nomination signatures last Wednesday, as required by Elections McGill, while dressed as a gorilla. However, he was disqualified from actually running because he did not have enough signatures, according to elections coordinator Lisha Li.
Rather than spending last week putting up posters and speaking to classes, Patrenko donned his gorilla suit to distribute handbills to students at the Milton Gates.
“I, Gorilla Q. Everyman, got bullshit-kicked out of the election; don’t let ‘the man’ perpetrate his or her Shamerican Shamocracy at McGill,” reads the handbill.
In an interview, Everyman said that gorillas face a “tough scene” at McGill, because they are discouraged from attending classes and are given strange looks when walking around campus.
His campaign was to be based on political “flip-flopping” to accommodate a wide range of political views.
Everyman urged students not to vote for either of the two presidential candidates, Aaron Donny-Clark and Leon Mwotia.
“I feel they’re good people, but they’re part of the hegemony that’s oppressing the gorillas,” he said, admitting he had not met either candidate because he spent much of the last year hiding in a nearby jungle.
Donny-Clark said that although Everyman would have attracted more student interest in the presidential race, it would have compromised the seriousness of the election. He added that Everyman was excluded because he violated elections rules, and not because of discrimination.
“To the best of my knowledge, the student society does not oppress gorillas,” Donny-Clark said.
Everyman, who plans to run again next year, denied that he is running as a joke candidate.
“I don’t really see what’s so funny,” he said. “I’m just a gorilla trying to run for president.”
