Sydney - Qantas Airways CEO Alan Joyce proved he was no cream puff on Tuesday,
keeping his cool after a man smeared a cream pie in his face
during a business breakfast in Australia's west.
Joyce, the head of Australia's flag carrier, was speaking at
the event in Perth, capital of Western Australia state, when a
man in a business suit walked onto the stage, reached around to
rub the pie in his face, and calmly walked away, 7 News
television showed.
The unidentified man's motive was unclear but he was soon
apprehended by security guards. State police later confirmed
that officers had been called to an assault at a Perth hotel and
that one person was in custody.
Joyce at first appeared stunned by the incident but quickly
regained his composure to tell the audience he did not know why
he had been targeted, Australian media reported, before leaving
the stage to clean up.
He later told reporters he had been unable to identify what
flavour pie he had been hit with.
"My issue is I need a good dry cleaner before I leave Perth,
so if you have one, please recommend it to me," he said.
Read also: Qantas responds to Zim ticket sales story
Long a slapstick comedy favourite, the pie-in-the-face
routine has also developed as a form of political protest.
News Corp boss Rupert Murdoch was famously hit in
the face with a pie while he testified before a British
parliamentary inquiry into a phone-hacking scandal in 2011.