Of all the controversies described with the suffix “gate,” pandagate is possibly the cutest—and most confusing—of them all.
On Tuesday BBC Magazine released its annual Faces of the Year 2011 – the women, a month-by-month look at the most newsworthy ladies that included the likes of U.S. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, singer Adele, and Sweetie, a rare panda from Chengdu, China that the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland had been lobbying five years to get.
The addition of animal, albeit a famous one, outraged thousands of woman around the world who used the hashtags #realwomenoftheyear and #pandagate to express outrage and suggest alternatives, like British journalist Rebecca Brooks, Michelle Obama, and celebrity news personality Giuliana Rancic.
Others seemed content to laugh off the controversy.
“#PandaGate is stupid. I’d be honored if a panda bear made the list for ‘men of the year.’ Pandas are badass,” tweeted Alex Keckeisen (@alex_keck).
“If Twitter’s angry about #pandagate …wait until the Telegraph names “Pippa Middleton’s Bottom” as ‘woman of the year,’” tweeted @themediatweets.
“I’m rather torn over #pandagate. These things are never just black or white,” tweeted @campaigner.
BBC also took to Twitter to set the record straight about #pandagate, which was mentioned nearly 2,000 times on the microblogging site, according to he social media search engine Topsy.
“Sweetie isn’t the first non-human on Faces of the year list, Peppa Pig last year and Benson the carp on the 2009 male list #pandagate,” tweeted the BBC Press Office (@bbcpress).
And true to Twitter form, a Sweetie the Panda parody account popped up almost immediately, answering tweets and weighing in on the drama.
“Desperately trying to wake up Sunshine from his mid morning snooze to tell him about my award! #pandagate,” tweeted the account, referencing Sweetie’s mate Sunshine.
“It’s a shame I didn’t nominate Gertrude the panda for Sports Personality as she is the current champion in pole vaulting!”
Image from The Guardian