Australia’s most infamous breakdancer Raygun has lost her job at one of the nation’s top universities.
Rachael Gunn, better known as Raygun, shot to global prominence when she represented Australia in the debut Olympic breakdancing event at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
Gunn made international headlines when she scored zero points for her performance with moves that imitated hopping kangaroos, wriggling snakes and the sprinkler.
The performance went viral and saw her become the subject of memes from around the globe.
Gunn was employed as a media and popular culture lecturer at Sydney’s Macquarie University, but was reportedly included in the educator’s latest round of redundancies, the Australian Financial Review (AFR) reports.
A Macquarie University spokesman said they were unable to comment or confirm details on the confidential employment arrangements involving individual staff.
“This is our standard practice for legal and privacy reasons,” a spokesman said.
The AFR reports lower international student numbers had led to universities across Australia look for cost saving measures, and Macquarie’s Arts department was the latest to be targeted in a round of redundancies.
According to Gunn’s LinkedIn profile, she worked at the university for more than a decade, where she completed a PHD on the gender politics of Sydney’s breaking culture in 2017.
Her research career was built on the cultural politics of breaking and street dancing that saw her complete a study about the experience of street dancers performing in public spaces for the City of Sydney.
Following Gunn’s Olympic performance, Senator Gerard Rennick criticised the use of taxpayer funds on unproductive academic courses.
“Just how many obscure and pointless courses do universities offer that are subsidised by the taxpayer,” he said in a Facebook post.
“It also goes to show just because you have a PhD in something doesn’t mean you are any good at it.”
A Macquarie University spokesman said they were unable to comment or confirm details on the confidential employment arrangements involving individual staff.
“This is our standard practice for legal and privacy reasons,” a spokesman said.
Earlier this year, Gunn used her fame to start a new venture on Cameo where she charges fans almost $70 for a personalised video.
The website enables users to purchase personalised messages from celebrities, actors and athletes from across the world.
