Complaints flood in following Kiwi anchor’s racial slurs against Indians, Dikshit
By ANIThursday, October 7, 2010
WELLINGTON - The racial comments made by a New Zealand television station breakfast show host Paul Henry has sparked a record number of complaints to TVNZ and drawn criticism from the Race Relations Commissioner, politicians, ethnic and community organisations and thousands of people.
The Auckland Regional Migrant Services (ARMS) today said that many migrants to New Zealand would view suspended breakfast show host on TVNZ Paul Henry’s “insensitive and xenophobic comments” negatively.
Acting executive director of ARMS Lawton Hakaraia called on people to write to companies that advertised on Breakfast, to ask them to withdraw their advertising if Henry kept his job, NZ Herald reports.
“TVNZ must take full responsibility for what has happened and investigate and address the comments made by Henry, to ensure that such bigoted, ethnocentric remarks have no place on state-funded television,” Hakaraia said.
Henry was suspended for two weeks after asking New Zealand Prime Minister John Key if Governor-General Sir Anand Satyanand was “even a New Zealander” and whether the next Governor-General would look and sound like a New Zealander.
Complaints have also been received about another recent Breakfast episode where Henry used racial slurs against Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.
The Video Extras section of TVNZ’s website promoted the Dikshit clip, which now appears to have been removed, under the heading “Paul Henry laughs about the name Dikshit”.
“The dip sh*t woman. God, what’s her name? Dick S**t. Is it Dick S**t … it looks like ‘Dick S**t’. It’s so appropriate, because she’s Indian, so she’d be dick-in-shit wouldn’t she, do you know what I mean? Walking along the street … it’s just so funny,” Henry said. (ANI)
