DVD company apologises over ‘sexist, racist’ Sapphires cover

The US distributor of Australian musical comedy ‘The Sapphires’ has apologised after the cover artwork for the DVD release appeared to focus on supporting actor Chris O’Dowd, at the expense of the titular Aboriginal female leads.

The controversial cover, produced by Anchor Bay Entertainment, not only backgrounded O’Dowd’s co-stars Deborah Mailman, Jessica Mauboy, Shari Sebbens and Miranda Tapsell, it also omitted the Aboriginal actress’ names from the bill altogether.

[Melissa McCarthy the latest star to be digitally 'enhanced' on a movie poster]

The action prompted Australian activist Lucy Manne to set up an online petition at change.org demanding Anchor Bay change the DVD’s cover – it’s already attracted over 21,000 signatures.

"'The Sapphires' is a wonderful film based on the true story of four young Indigenous Australian women who formed a singing group that traveled to Vietnam in the 1960s to entertain the troops,” the petition explains. “Not so great is the sexist, racist cover for the DVD that's been chosen by the distributor.”

It continues: “The female stars of the show [are] relegated to the background (in a weird blue monotone effect that disguises their skin colour, just to add insult to injury).”

[Lego Star Wars accused of racism]

Anchor Bay has now issued a statement saying the company “regrets any unintentional upset” caused by the cover and will now consider new artwork.

‘Bridesmaids’ star Chris O’Dowd, who made his name in Channel 4’s ‘The IT Crowd’, labeled the artwork “pretty vile”, declaring it was “certainly not my choice.”

"It's ridiculous, it's misleading, it's ill-judged, insensitive and everything the film wasn't."