[ad_1]
How a caricature mask of Jacinda Ardern ended up attached to the lid of a toilet seat trophy at an annual Rotary Club debate will be investigated.
The Rotary Club of St Johns has apologised for the offensive costumes and trophy seen at its annual debate evening on Friday.
Photos shared to the Rotary Club’s Facebook page on Friday evening, which have since been removed, showed club members celebrating with the traditional toilet seat trophy – which has been used for decades.
The toilet seat lid had a mask of former prime minister Jacinda Ardern attached by what appeared to be its elastic band – the masks had earlier been worn by the Rotary Club of Auckland East.
READ MORE:
* ‘Most violent targeting of any community’: The aftermath of Posie Parker’s visit
Gary Key, St Johns club co-president, said he initially thought the mask had been accidentally placed on the lid, and that no “malice” was intended.
But if it was put there on purpose, “that’s unacceptable,” he said.
“It’s put a question in my mind that I will now be investigating further as co-president.
“We couldn’t be more sorry and more apologetic as to what’s happened.”
The St John and Auckland East club teams had gathered for an annual debate event, where the topic was whether Jacinda Ardern or Robert Muldoon was a better prime minister.
The Auckland East team – arguing for Ardern – dressed up in black curly wigs and wore Jacinda Arden caricature masks with elastic bands around their heads.
Key believed the mask was “inadvertently” placed on the seat, and that no malice was intended.
But when asked about the apparent elastic band, he said he hadn’t noticed it before.
“I can’t explain that,” he said. “That’s unacceptable.
“I thought it was just someone’s mask had been placed inadvertently on it and that’s the way we’ve taken it.
“We’re very, very sorry a number of people have taken umbrage to the photo, but it was purely an innocent mistake that was made.”
He said as soon as it was clear the photos were offending people, they were removed, and an apology – also since deleted – was posted.
“The debate was a success however the picture of the teams with the trophy was commented on (thank you) and now removed as taken out of context (understandably). We apologise to those who had concerns about the picture,” the apology read.
“The last thing that Rotary wants to do is upset people,” Key said.
A 2023 study showed 93% of toxic online posts against high-profile politicians between 2019 and 2022 targeted Jacinda Ardern.
Auckland University researcher Chris Wilson, who is also director of Hate and Extremism Insights Aotearoa, said at the time that Ardern faced disproportionte levels of abuse across a range of topics.
“The only conclusion you can draw is that it was just ongoing, incessant vitriol focussed on the PM, over a long period, that never went away.
“She’s a lightning rod for all these things – Covid, fears about Covid, fears about mandates and losing their job, the fact that she’s PM. But then she’s also a woman… You can’t get away from the fact that a lot of it is highly misogynistic.”
1 NEWS
Whether in person or online it’s been hard to ignore.
Key said his first mistake was permitting a “political” topic, or moot, when Rotary was meant to be an apolitical organisation.
He said he should have stepped in “then and there”.
“Hindsight is a marvellous thing to look back and say ‘well gee whizz, if someone looked from the outside in’.
“It was done in the spirit of what the debate was, and the debate has always been a fun thing.
“What wasn’t correct was probably the moot in the first instance… But there was nothing sinister or untoward with regards to the moot.”
Asked whether anyone had addressed the costumes, masks or placing the mask on the toilet trophy, Key said they hadn’t.
He also accepted responsibility for the Auckland East team’s costumes.
“In hindsight that that would be on my shoulders as the, as the co-president. I was leading the meeting.”
Waitematā Local Board member Greg Moyle, also a Rotarian, was the debate adjudicator on the night and can be seen at the front of the photo, one hand in the toilet bowl.
He said no one meant any disrespect to either politician in the debate topic, and said “there was nothing inappropriate about it”.
But he said he didn’t actually see the Ardern caricature mask being attached to the toilet seat lid in the photo, as he was “looking forward, not looking backwards”.
He agreed putting the picture on the toilet was an issue, “if it’s intimating something unkind about Jacinda”.
But on the costumes or even the debate topic itself, “no one was offended on the night, there were no negative comments given to me on the night,” Moyle said.
“Clearly everything is out of context.”
He said the team arguing for Robert Muldoon as the better prime minister actually lost points for not dressing up.
“It was a bit of fun, no one was offensive,” he said.
[ad_2]