in 1984, Schofield compared a lobster dish as "...close to culinary crime". He wrote it had been "...cooked until every drop of juice and joy in the thing had been successfully eliminated... leaving a charred husk of a shell containing meat that might have been albino walrus". A damages award of A$100,000 plus interest was made against Schofield and Fairfax when it was found that they had defamed the Blue Angel restaurant. In 2015, after Schofield failed to secure increased funding for the Hobart Baroque Festival, he attacked Tasmania in the Sydney press; calling the island state's leaders and residents who had previously funded his music festival "dregs, bogans and third-generation morons". Schofield's comments were widely refuted and condemned by leading Tasmanian and Australian arts figures, as well as political leaders. Schofield's views were derided by celebrated Tasmanian author, Bradley Trevor Greive, as "churlish, gauche and unforgivably small", with numerous arts commentators describing Schofield's remarks as highly offensive, petulant, unbecoming and divisive. Tasmanian Premier, Will Hodgman released an official statement promoting Tasmania's commitment to the arts and his government's "support [of] exceptional events and festivals". Hodgman also stated that "Leo Schofield's comments [were] derogatory, ignorant and right out of step with what the vast majority of people are saying about Tasmania." Schofield later claimed to be taking anti-depressants and drinking excessively. In an article published on the Tasmanian Times website, Schofield said he was deeply sorry for his "ill-considered, intemperate and inelegant remarks" for which he apologized unreservedly. Schofield later relocated the Baroque Festival to Brisbane where, according to Luke Martin from the Tourism Industry Council of Tasmania, who accused Schofield of "blatant mistruths", the Queensland-based festival program received exactly the same amount of funding that prompted Schofield's embarrassing public outburst against Tasmania. The 2016 Brisbane Baroque festival opening night was picketed by an informal Tasmanian pro-arts performance group, known as "Leo's Bogan Brigade", who used the media attention focussed on Schofield's negative remarks as a positive opportunity to promote young and emerging Tasmanian artists. Bibliography Awards 2000 appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for service to the arts, particularly the Sydney Festival and the Melbourne Festival, as a fundraiser and administrator, and to environmental and heritage conservation 2001 awarded the Australian Government Centenary Medal for outstanding service to the Australian arts, culture, heritage and food industry 2002 made a Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres