Succulent Chinese meal guy Jack Karlson tragically dies
The petty crook who was caught on camera loudly protesting his arrest after eating a “juicy Chinese meal” has tragically died.
In 1991, a television crew filmed Jack Karlson shouting at police outside a Brisbane restaurant. When the footage of his outburst was posted on YouTube in 2009, it went viral.
The faded image showed a mustachioed Karlson mouthing a series of Shakespearean lines as he was reluctantly pulled away from his lunch table.
“Gentlemen, this is democracy!” he bellowed at the camera. “Get your hands off my penis!”
“What’s the charge? Eating a meal? A juicy Chinese meal? Ooh, that’s a nice chokehold, sir. Ah yes, I see you’ve got your judo down pat.”
Karlson’s arrest was the result of mistaken identity, but the minute-long clip has since become the subject of countless memes and even its own line of merchandise.
He died just weeks after his family announced he was suffering from prostate cancer.
Karlson’s story is detailed in the book Carnage: A Succulent Chinese Meal, Mr Rent-a-Kill and the Australian Manson Murders by journalist Mark Dapin.
Jack Karlson wrestles with police outside a Brisbane restaurant on October 11, 1991, in one of the most-watched arrest videos of all time. His arrest for suspected credit card fraud was a mistake – but his real life story is far more extraordinary
The former stage and television actor and occasional painter will also soon be seen in a documentary titled The Man Who Ate A Succulent Chinese Meal.
To promote the film, Karlson was recently reunited with one of the officers who arrested him years ago at the China Sea restaurant in Fortitude Valley.
Seven Network reporter Chris Reason had rushed to the restaurant that day after receiving a tip-off that one of Queensland’s most wanted men had used a stolen credit card to pay for his meal.
Karlson turned out not to be the suspect police initially thought, but his arrest was so high-profile that it spawned a smash-hit television series and took on a life of its own.
One of the arresting officers, Stoll Watt, appeared with Karlson on ABC News Breakfast in June, when the men were asked what they remembered about their encounter.
“There are many different versions of events,” Watt told host Michael Rowland.
“There’s a lot of mystery and misunderstanding about the whole thing. But the main thing is that Jack should have gotten an Academy Award and he’s a great friend.”
Rowland asked Karlson if one of his most famous lines from the video, “Keep your hands off my penis!” referred to something that actually happened or was made up on the spot.
“Probably made up,” Karlson said. “I can’t remember.”
Nearly a quarter century after that incident — now known as the “Succulent Chinese Meal” video or “Democracy Manifesto” — Karlson’s story has been told in a book titled Carnage: A Succulent Chinese Meal, Mr Rent-a-Kill and the Australian Manson Murders, by Mark Dapin
Sunrise also aired a segment from the upcoming documentary, in which host Monique Wright read a text from Reason about Karlson’s video.
“I’ve been doing this work for over thirty years,” Reason wrote.
‘Mandela, Bosnia, Ukraine, 9/11, the only thing anyone wants to talk to me about is that damned Mr. Democracy Manifesto!’
Despite being wrongfully arrested in 1991, Karlson, who is in his early 80s, has a long history of breaking the law.
He is believed to have had links to some of Australia’s most notorious criminals from the 1970s to the 1990s, including Sydney gangster Neddy Smith and Melbourne businessman Mark ‘Chopper’ Read.
Over the decades he was imprisoned in Brisbane (Boggo Road), Sydney (Parramatta, Long Bay) and Melbourne (Pentridge) and escaped three times.
In the 1970s, he appeared as an extra in the classic Australian television dramas Homicide, Division 4 and Matlock Police, and in 2020 he starred in a music video for the punk rock band The Chats.