The Year’s Best Feud, Peking Duk v Agro, Was Born at the ARIA Awards

Okay, who had these two on their 'Beef Bingo' card? Literally no one? Alright then.

In my time at Student Edge, I’ve covered a variety of strange and unexpected feuds—President Trump v Snoop Dogg, Justin Timberlake v Cirque du Soleil, Liam Gallagher v the literal sea—that could have only been predicted in advance by soothsayers or those practicing witchcraft.

However, you would have needed to be vibrating on some other kind of advanced frequency to have seen the roiling beef between Aussie electro duo Peking Duk and retro '80s puppet Agro coming.

At last night’s ARIA awards, Peking Duk dudes Adam Hyde and Reuben Styles took the stage opposite the un-retired Agro to present the award for Best Rock Album, and if you’re wondering why Agro was even there, you’re not alone.

On stage, Hyde remarked, "How is Agro still allowed on TV in 2019?" Later on, after finding Agro still in stage for the announcement of Best Blues & Roots Album, he said, "I can't believe Agro's still up here, that’s pretty f***ed." (We would have thought he would at least have felt a kinship with Agro given they were wearing identical white suits.) Then the two of them continued to drill the puppet for his old-timey humour.

Most viewers were in agreement, though the galaxy-brained among them wondered if the rivalry had actually been staged.

Oh Man, Peking Duk just ripped Agro (the puppet) and the #ARIAs a new one. Ha ha ha.

— Gus (@gusk) November 27, 2019

imagine thinking Brooke Boney's two-minute to-camera piece before the show even started was in the top three worst things of the night, and imagine believing Peking Duk's bit with Agro was completely real and not a scripted comedy bit, how embarrassing #arias https://t.co/NGt4Zw6seG

— Ti Butler (@tibutler) November 27, 2019

God!? What happened to Agro!? 😭 aging hasn't been nice. Plus that peaking duck and Agro bit just fall flat. #ARIAs

— Laura Bryant (@Laura_Ann_94) November 27, 2019

It wasn’t precisely clear on which side of the argument the Best Rock Album winners Amyl & the Sniffers fell, with lead singer Amy Taylor saying, "F*** you Agro, I love you so much". She also flipped him the bird.

So, in conclusion, the ARIAs were pretty weird.

Header Image: Mark Metcalfe / Getty Images Entertainment