More Fear and Loathing In Sin City (Naked City)

More Fear and Loathing In Sin City is the latest column (March 3, 2025) from Coffin Ed‘s The Naked City column – featured exclusively on City Hub.

You are staging a big annual event that will be viewed by millions of Australians on local TV, including many young children and impressionable teenagers. You decide to give the occasion a huge publicity push by inviting somebody bound to capture everybody’s attention. Would you invite a pathological liar, a man convicted of sexual battery and ordered to pay $5 million in compensation, a once close confidant of notorious paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, a supporter of Germany’s far right AfD party, a buddy of Vladimir Putin and a former TV hack who once suggested his stardom entitled him to “”grab ’em by the pussy”? If you are the current Australian Rugby League supremo Peter V’Landys, the answer is yes!

Now who could that star attraction be? No doubt the ‘fake news’ above would not come into consideration but the drawing power of Donald Trump certainly would. Prior to the NRL games which began in Vegas last weekend, V’Landys appeared via video on ‘Fox and Friends’, personally extending an invitation for Trump to attend the latest Las Vegas footy feast.

“Good morning, Mr. President,” he gushed, “I know you watch ‘Fox and Friends’, which is a great program, extremely fair and balanced. Mr President, we want to introduce you to the toughest game on earth, rugby league, in the world’s sport and entertainment capital, Las Vegas.”

Depending on your point of view it was either a sickening display of sycophancy, a misguided attempt to lure somebody who doesn’t give a soiled diaper about Rugby League or simply a well contrived publicity stunt – maybe a combo of all three! Again it reinforced that cringeworthy desire for American validation of one of our popular sports. The reality is the USA has their own brand of football, the NFL, and collectively they don’t give a hoot about the so called “toughest game on earth”. It’s a passing novelty for the yanks and dressing it up in Vegas is like putting lipstick on a pig.

And of course you have to keep asking why ‘Sin City’, when the opening games would have had more cultural significance if played at Redfern Oval. It’s a city with a rising homeless population, well over 8,000 at latest count, a massive drug problem and one of the worst public housing programs in the US.

Nevertheless the NRL and Channel Nine still see a degree of allure and ‘magic’ in the so called entertainment capital of the world. The build up included an interview with one Australian footballer who was asked what he’d been up to in Vegas. He mentioned the casinos and a shooting range where you could fire off automatic weapons – the latter being just the thing you might question in a city notorious for the deadliest mass shooting by a lone gunman in American history. That was in 2017 when Stephen Paddock opened fire from a 32 floor hotel room on the crowd at the Route 91 Harvest music festival. 1000 rounds later and he had killed 60 and wounded 413 with hundreds more injured in the ensuing chaos.

But let’s not be too hard on Peter V’Landys in his efforts to promote the NRL in the neon wonderland of Vegas. If you can’t get Donald then the next best thing is Elon and what an attraction he would be positioned just alongside the scoreboard, waving his now trademark chainsaw. Every time a try is scored he could give his now famous, ‘that’s not really a Nazi’, salute and his adoring Tesla driving fans would go wild.

And why not ask the ebullient Robert Kennedy Jnr to into the dressing rooms with a pre-game smoothie for all of the players. When feeding his beloved falcons he loves to put live mice and baby chickens into a blender and what a protein boost that would be for the NRL boys. We want the yanks to really love our game and if Trump can’t make it let’s get Hulk Hogan, the Village People, Steve Bannon, Sean Hannity, Dan Bongino, Joe Rogan, the Tate brothers and every other Trump/Musk supporter prepared to don a MAGA cap.

If Trump won’t turn up for an NRL game in Vegas there’s always the possibility he will front his proposed Riviera on the Gaza Strip in five year’s time. Maybe Peter V’Landys should be putting in his request now. There’s bound to be a Trump Hotel, a couple of Trump casinos, a thirty six hole golf course and a good size stadium constructed entirely out of recycled rubble– all that you need to kick off the NRL season.

Not exactly sin city or Viva Las Vegas but you never know. Is the idea of a Riviera in Gaza with condos, multiple Starbucks and endless swimming pools a silly idea? Well no! Peter, you can be assured it got a good and balanced reception on ‘Fox and Friends’ so it’s definitely not bullshit. And check out the much watched video here, which Trump himself recently reposted on his socials. It must be true!