NZ cricket condemns radio host's 'appalling and disgusting' segment
New Zealand cricket has led the condemnation of a radio host after he failed to shut down a caller who described Maori’s as “stone age people with a stone age culture”.
MagicTalk show host John Banks, also the former mayor of Auckland, will be removed from air and sparked fierce pubic backlash after a segment, which has been labelled ‘racist’.
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A caller, speaking to Banks, described Maori’s as “victims of their own genetic background. They’re genetically predisposed to crime, alcohol, and underperformance educationally.”
Banks, when he next spoke, failed to condemn the comments and said: “Your children need to get used to their stone age culture, because if their stone age culture doesn’t change, these people will come through your bathroom window.”
Since the segment, Vodafone, KiwiBank, Trade Me and Spark have all pulled advertising from the network.
New Zealand cricket leads John Banks backlash
New Zealand cricket also led the outrage on social media after labelling the comments “appalling”.
NZC is disgusted and appalled by an indefensibly racist exchange between a talkback caller and host John Banks on MagicTalk Radio. NZC has contacted the station to both ask for an explanation and express its dismay over comments completely at odds with our values and culture. 1/2
— BLACKCAPS (@BLACKCAPS) January 27, 2021
I'd tag in #JohnBanks but he's not active on Twitter, still in the #StoneAge 😂 https://t.co/ZUI4tLRtMu
— 🌺Mihingarangi Forbes (@Mihi_Forbes) January 27, 2021
Sometimes people forget that John Banks was once the elected mayor of Auckland. This country's got A LOT to work on. That's all.
— Patrick Thomsen (@_PatrickThomsen) January 27, 2021
John Banks has had so many ignominious exits from public life it appears he may be stuck in some sort of existential revolving door. pic.twitter.com/GErGSNDDpP
— Matt Nippert (@MattNippert) January 27, 2021
😲 Shocked and disgusted with @MagicTalkRadio
PULL YOUR ADVERTISING #NewZealand https://t.co/is6jJfL186— scene_cachet (@scene_cachet) January 27, 2021
Banks’ fellow talk show host, Ryan Bridge hit out at the “factually incorrect” comments, which he labelled “racist”.
“It was factually incorrect and it wasn’t really challenged in the call as it should have been, I think,” he said.
Banks later apologised and claimed he had not picked up on the comments from the caller.
"I didn't pick it up at the time, here when you're broadcasting, you're talking to producers, you're talking to bosses," Banks said.
"I spoke to people later in the show who disagreed with the man and I picked it up then, however this wasn't enough to demonstrate that his comments were wrong and racist."
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