Coronavirus Australia: Scott Morrison's 'barre' gaffe in press conference

Announcing a raft of new measures, Prime Minister Scott Morrison struggled to pronounce or know what a trendy type of exercise was.

The world can seem like a dark place at the moment so it's no surprise Australians were happy to latch onto one of the lighter parts of Scott Morrison's press conference last night.

Mr Morrison addressed the media late yesterday to announce further social distancing measures would need to be taken to fight the spread of coronavirus.

However a lighter moment came when the Prime Minister struggled to pronounce and clearly had no idea what barre was, despite the type of exercise being part of the new restrictions.

The fresh measures include the shuttering of beauty salons and strict limits on the amount of people who can attend weddings and funerals, as well as further indoor group exercise activities that are now not allowed.

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Safe to say, Scott Morrison has never stepped foot inside a barre studio before. Picture: Lukas Coch – Pool/Getty Images.

"Community and recreation centres, health clubs, fitness centres, yoga, barre — I hope I pronounced that correctly,” he said.

“I might need some help with that, I'm not quite sure what that is to be honest — but B-A-R-R-E, for those looking for the specific definition, and spin facilities, saunas, bath houses, wellness centres.”

The fact that Mr Morrison clearly had no idea what barre, a ballet-inspired pilates exercise, was and even pronounced it wrong (he said bar-re, rather than the one syllable barre) was soon seized on by viewers.

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The key takeaway from that presser.

Look for the barre necessities
The simple barre necessities
Forget about your worries and your strife
I mean the barre necessities
Old Mother Nature's recipes
That brings the barre necessities of life#COVID19Aus #ScoMo pic.twitter.com/7iejehUV5Y

— David Moore (@morteinmooie) March 24, 2020

Who would have thought this would be barre's big moment?

— Dani Bevins (@DaniKBevins) March 24, 2020

It’s barre #barre #ScottyFromMarketing #scomo pic.twitter.com/o8f6bVz9Gp

— Fairls (@fairls) March 24, 2020

nothing has ever made me like ScoMo more than him not knowing how to pronounce “barre”. huge dad areas.

— Alex Bruce-Smith (@alexbrucesmith) March 24, 2020

Scomo doing a fantastic job. And BLESSSSS his cotton socks when he tried to say #Barre. Dad’s everywhere would be asking the same question! 😂

— Dimity Smith (@smithdimity) March 24, 2020

It’s called Barre. Pronounced the same as ‘let’s go have a wine at the bar’ you can now do it from your home with online workouts if you want!! Check Xtend Barre Burleigh for details. Thanks Scomo for the promo of a struggling industry right now! pic.twitter.com/v4Wp3cvWao

— Riana Crehan (@rianacrehan) March 24, 2020

Which premier got ScoMo to talk about barre I want a name on my desk by tomorrow morning.

— Matt Bevan 🎙 (@MatthewBevan) March 24, 2020

CAN SCOMO NOT PRONOUNCE BARRE

— 𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐞 ・* (@comfortcruel) March 24, 2020

Meanwhile, others admitted that, like Mr Morrison, they had no idea what barre was either.

Data from Google shows that searches for the term “barre” surged exponentially at the same time as Mr Morrison’s press conference, meaning that a lot of us also had no idea what the exercise was.

I have found something I have in common with the PM....I don’t know what barre is either 🤷‍♂️

— Peter van Onselen (@vanOnselenP) March 24, 2020

1 million Australians learn what "barre" means and someone at Google analytics scratches their head. pic.twitter.com/p726P7oKQ7

— Christopher McMaster (@DrCMcMaster) March 24, 2020

For the curious! Barre fitness is a hybrid workout class - combining ballet-inspired moves with elements of Pilates, dance, yoga & strength training. Most classes incorporate a ballet barre and use classic dance moves such as plies, alongside static stretches. #Covid_19australia

— 💧Rob Stephenson FRSA (@RobBendigo) March 24, 2020

It’s okay ScoMo, I didn’t know what a Barre was either... #COVID19Aus

— April McLennan (@AprilMcLennan1) March 24, 2020

Xtend Barre Drummonye owner Sara Czarnota told news.com.au Mr Morrison’s gaffe “gave me a good giggle”.

Like others, Ms Czarnota has had to close her inner west Sydney studio due to coronavirus and is now streaming her classes online.

She invited Mr Morrison to try one of her live classes if he was curious about barre.

“I'm grateful that it has created a stir and has people talking about barre classes, especially at this difficult time where we have all had to shut our doors,” Ms Czarnota said.

“We have had the highest web traffic and tags since peak acquisition time in January... we're trending! Any promotion is good promotion, although it did make me shake my head that he didn't pre-read his speech.”

WHAT IS BARRE?

Barre is a full body workout inspired by elements of pilates, ballet and yoga which works small muscles one at a time through low-impact, high intensity movements.

"The muscles in each group are fatigued via small targeted movements, high repetition, and light weight or resistance," barre trainer Katelyn DiGiorgio told Women's Health UK last year.

"Sections of class are also paired with stretching to increase overall flexibility."

While surging in popularity in the last five years, barre has been around for decades and was created by UK ballerina Lotte Berk in 1959.

Originally published as Coronavirus Australia: Scott Morrison's 'barre' gaffe in press conference