Human Remains

That's all that's left after a media feeding frenzy

What a week for scalps this past one has been.

A veritable bloodbath of beheadings. Let me count the victims but in no particular order:

• Sir Rod Drury - hands in his New Zealander of the Year Award after accusations of inappropriate behaviour with women

• TVNZ political editor Maiki Sherman resigns after revelations she made a homophobic slur and harassed a politician

• Seeby Woodhouse - guilty of offensive words in a text. Voyager founder no longer permitted to fund the Voyager Media Awards.

• The BSA - to be disestablished after pursuing complaints against webcast media, the Platform.

Three of the four miscreants apologised publicly but that wasn’t enough. Further punishment was required before the media called off the attack dogs. Hence awards, jobs and funder status withdrawn.

What to make of all this? The discombobulated part of me feels like I’ve been catapulted back to 2018, the high watermark of MeToo condemnations and deference to the rainbow cult.

But the hanging judge part of me applauds the Maiki move since I’m a stickler for consistency. Let me explain.

TVNZ is a signed up supporter of Pride Pledge (PP). This badge of moral approval requires obeisance to the rainbow gods. A year ago Sherman offended these gods by calling a colleague a bad word and should be made to pay.

Even though the colleague didn’t mind and obviously her employer, TVNZ, didn’t mind since the incident had been an open secret for the past 12 months. But when a substacker outed the incident, punishment had to be seen to be done.

There is precedence for this sacrifice. Only three years earlier a radio host, Leah Panapa, had also offended the rainbow gods by stating on air that men couldn’t have babies.

The day after affirming reality, Panapa and another guilty host issued an on-air apology. Panapa called the comments “inexcusable, inappropriate and deeply offensive” and apologized to the LGBTTQIA+ community for any distress. They agreed to undergo Rainbow Tick diversity/inclusion training (a corporate re-education program on gender ideology).

Of course. Her employer, Today FM, was a paid-up member of Rainbow Tick (RT). Sex realism is heresy to all those who submit to the rainbow church. Panapa left before her re-education took place and is now a host on the Platform.

In order to show that belonging to the PP is a serious commitment, Sherman had to go. Or at least be re-educated which, frankly, is an unseemly look for the highest status job in the media-politco ecosystem. It’s all about the optics, obviously, since no one really minded.

Had she not resigned, her continued employment would have called into question the value of the PP. People might have concluded that a PP signalled a weaker commitment to the cause than an RT.

Before Sherman resigned I asked the director of PP, Martin King (he/him), about his view of her homophobic comment. Here is his statement in response:

“Pride Pledge is unable to comment on any specifics regarding the situation you have raised other than to say that we have been advised that TVNZ takes this matter seriously. TVNZ is best placed to talk about in any detail on the matter and we would encourage you to engage with them here.

“What we can say is that TVNZ has actively engaged in wide reaching training and initiatives with Pride Pledge over the past 4 years. TVNZ demonstrates, through their work with Pride Pledge, an ongoing commitment to building capability and policy to ensure a safe and inclusive workplace.”

I then asked him what the usual procedure with PP was when a staff member was alleged to have made a homophobic slur.

“Employers in New Zealand are required to follow their bullying, harassment, and discrimination policies to uphold the requirements of the Employment Relations Act, Human Rights Act and Health and Safety Act - this is a legal requirement for all employers to ensure a safe workplace. Employers then follow their investigation processes according to their policies and to comply with the above if there is an ‘incident’ or complaint. We expect this of all Pride Pledge organisations.”

King describes himself as a New Zealand-based HR and Diversity & Inclusion leader with more than 25 years experience creating safe workplaces. HR. Figures. There’s a reason I call HR Human Remains.

Pride Pledge (PP) and Rainbow Tick (RT) are two competing churches of gender in the indulgences business. Of the two, PP is the cheapest and the most popular. TVNZ are classified as Gold Supporters of PP, not fully certified members. The PP fee is a lot less than the approx $12,000 annual fee charged by RT. This may be one reason why PP has over 300 member companies while the Ngati Whatua iwi-owned RT has only a third that number.

PP evolved partly from earlier collaboration with the RT organisation (partnership ended in early 2024) and now offers its own certification alongside supporter pledges. Further research reveals that RT isn’t queer-led, since it is a division of mental health charity Kahui Tū Kaha. PP, however, is a social enterprise run by members of the Rainbow community. Much better obv.

So far all good in the karmic hood. Crime confessed, punishment meted out, justice seen to be done. Plus it’s comforting to know that Sherman would have pursued this story and demanded a scalp herself had the miscreant been anyone else, well, especially anyone from the coalition government say or someone like Israel Folau, a conservative Christian.

But now we come to Sir Rod Drury and here I’m flummoxed. Kiwibank awarded the tech entrepreneur and philanthropist New Zealander of the Year 2026 in March but after revelations of inappropriate behaviour were made by several women, he returned the award last week. Had he not done so it’s fair to say the media drumbeat for this outcome would only have amplified.

But Drury was not the first Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year to court controversy.

Dr. Lance O’Sullivan, 2014 New Zealander of the Year was recognised for rural health work, yet later faced issues. In 2017 he stormed the stage at a screening of the anti-vaccine film Vaxxed, leading to threats against his family. In 2020, he was charged with intentional damage (to a car window) in Rotorua. Other public controversies included heated and profane riddled Facebook rants and health system criticisms. Sullivan retains his award.

Fair enough you say. That’s hardly as serious as inappropriate behaviour with women. However the case against Shaneel Lal (they/them), a Fijian-New Zealand LGBT rights activist, who won Young New Zealander of the Year in 2023 is more compelling and has greater parallels.

First, he won the award for leading the successful campaign to ban conversion therapy in New Zealand. Sounds good right? Except it’s not. It’s just that the media hasn’t caught up yet. If they had, they would be pursuing him.

But it won’t be long before this campaign will be seen for what it is - a homophobic attack on gay people. Mounting evidence shows that many of the victims of gender ideology are young people who would, if left alone, resolve their gender distress and be gay. What the rainbow church condemns as conversion therapy, others would label just plain therapy for gender distressed children. Instead, persuaded by gender church fanatics that they are born in the wrong body (an impossibility), many undergo needless medication and mutilation. It is a crime of epic proportions.

So there’s that. Homophobia disguised as faux compassion. Not even Drury did anything that bad.

Then there’s his attitude to women - and free speech. In 2023 Lal helped organise and participated in the large counter-protest in Auckland’s Albert Park against British gender-critical activist Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull (Posie Parker or KJK). The event turned into a chaotic mobbing by 2000 hyped-up young people of about 200 older women, some of whom were assaulted. KJK was also assaulted, her speech drowned out by the crowd, and her tour cancelled.

Lal described KJK as a “transphobic bigot” and said her visit emboldened hatred. A media watchdog later found Lal made an inaccurate claim about KJK’s statements.

Lal has a talent for hyperbole. He has been accused of whipping up hysteria after suggesting the burning down of a Rainbow Youth facility was an attack on the gay community, despite a Judge saying it was clear that both offenders had significant intellectual limitations and ruling it wasn’t a hate crime.

Lal’s social media activity also revealed multiple tweets displaying vicious and racist tones. Thanks to Chris Lynch Media for keeping the receipts. See image from his website below. There’s more but you get the picture.

Also weirdly post resignation ,Lal defended Sherman’s homophobic slur, presumably because her identity as Maori wahine tops his on the oppression totem pole.

So homophobia, incitement to violence, abuse of women, and racist, violent tweets. And yet Shaneel Lal has kept his Young New Zealander of the Year 2023 award.

Not because Kiwibank thinks he’s a more worthy recipient than Sir Rod Drury but because there has been no media frenzy demanding a scalp. Of course not. Lal is a member of the sacred class of brown alphabet people. Also the media don’t understand the sex and gender issue at all. They have no idea what is at stake. I mean, only the rights of women and girls and the health of young people.

They prefer to surround an older hetero white male, baying for blood in the guise of justice, until weakened by their attacks, he gives in. It helps that he conveniently fits the profile of a politically acceptable malefactor. Lal doesn’t.

My conclusion from this bugger’s muddle is that Kiwibank should ditch the whole New Zealander of the Year circus. If they are not brave enough to insist Drury keep his award and we are not mature enough as a society to accept that people are imperfect, even the heroes, then we don’t deserve to celebrate our finest.

Then there’s Voyager founder Seeby Woodhouse’s failings. To be honest, I haven’t looked into this closely, but again, revelations that he is a flawed individual and has said/written some dumb things is hardly a hanging offence.

The only good news in this lamentable litany is the promised demise of the Broadcasting Standards Authority. Their foolish decision to support a vexatious litigant with a weak complaint was their undoing. News that they have guidelines on Complaints Concerning Gender Identity Issues only serves to reinforce the idiocy of this organisation.

As for the media, they are responsible for all the executions listed. Some may feel triumphant, others conflicted, given one of their own has been caught in the crossfire. My guess is that they won’t have any idea that the public is growing weary of their displays of moral righteousness.

But this is only one reason why faith in the media is tanking. There’s more, always so much more.

I began this piece by stating I felt like I’d time-travelled to 2018. That’s because the media are stuck there, stuck in the weeds of identity politics, obsessed with fine distinctions and misdemeanours that mean nothing to the hoi polloi.

The public are way ahead of them. We’ve moved on. We’re heartily sick of identity politics and long for a forum to air other concerns - concerns the media and managerial elites deem offensive. That’s why the Platform is doing so well. They dare to go where superior angels fear to tread.

The age of grievance is over. Believe it. It’s over. No one cares if anyone feels harmed or hurt or overlooked anymore. The age of heroism and courage is coming. Please keep up.