For the UK Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, it was a case of being upstaged by his own stage.
The backdrop to the party’s annual conference in the seaside town of Brighton sparked a wave of outrage on social media on Tuesday as people mistook it for an image of a mosque.
One man wrote “Why is there a giant mosque with the words #Labour on it at the Labour Party Conference 2017?”
Martin Hill tweeted: “Why a mosque as the Labour backdrop. You really do hate white English Christian people. This is a disgrace, and racist.”
Another said: “Is that a mosque behind D Abbott at the Labour Conference? All I needed to know about Labour.”
But the anger turned to mirth when it became clear that the image was in fact a representation of the famous Brighton Pavilion.
William Tomaney wrote, “Brilliant how many Twitter racists think the Labour Conference’s Brighton Pier banner is a mosque. And they complain when labelled stupid.”
Victoria Jones tweeted that those looking for a laugh should, “search Labour Party Conference Tweets.”
Another wrote: “The outrage over the “mosque” on the new Labour banner is my new favorite thing. A new level of stupid.”
On Monday, Arab News highlighted growing racial divides in its exclusive “UK attitudes toward the Arab World” survey results, which found that 70 percent of Brits believe “Islamophobia” is on the rise.
The survey also found that over half of Brits agree with Arab profiling for security reasons and only 28 percent believe that Arab immigrants are “beneficial” to UK society.
The building featured in the stage backdrop was a seaside retreat for King George IV and was transformed from a modest farmhouse into the building it is today from 1787 to 1822.
The current appearance of the building was based on Indian architecture and is the work of designer John Nash, who extended it from 1815 to 1822.
A Labour spokesperson declined to comment on the Twitter furor.