Artist Hetty Douglas incensed people on Twitter after this post mocking workmen on her Instagram account. Photo / Instagram
Artist Hetty Douglas incensed people on Twitter after this post mocking workmen on her Instagram account. Photo / Instagram
A scaffolder has lashed out at an artist who mocked him at McDonald's and posted an insulting image on social media.
Artist Hetty Douglas sparked outrage after she photographed a group of workmen at McDonald's in London with the caption "These guys look like they got 1 GCSE" (the equivalentto passing NCEA).
Douglas stated the workers had one qualification between them.
One of the men in the picture, Warren Butt, 40, said the painter made him and his workmate "look like idiots" and called on her to apologise.
Warren Butt, 40, said the painter made him and his workmate 'look like idiots' and has called on her to apologise.
"It's not very nice. It's made us look like a load of idiots when we are just trying to crack on and do some work," he told the Sun Online.
"I would like an apology. I do not think it's right she can take a picture of us without us knowing and say that. I'm just working - just earning a living for me and my son.
"What gives her the right to look at me or us in that way.
Hetty Douglas received strong criticism on social media for her post. Photo / Instagram
Douglas, who has previously worked with fashion giant Fred Perry and lives in trendy Peckham, southeast London, received hundreds of angry comments after her Instagram post was shared on Twitter.
Some have accused her of "fetishising working class culture", while others said she was "classist".
Replying to Douglas' sneer, a tweeter wrote: "and you look like a spoiled rich girl gentrifying south London."
Another fumed: "Would pay to see her kindly and gently explain to the blokes why she feels she can mock them behind their backs to 15k people."
One person wrote: "You wouldn't last two minutes in the shoes of a tradesman."
However, Douglas' father Maurice, a builder himself, defended Hetty saying his daughter's comments have been taken out of content.
"I'd love to defend my daughter but the less anyone says the sooner it will hopefully all blow over."
Douglas has received so much backlash she has taken down her Instagram page.
