National minister Chris Bishop has apologised for his outburst at the NZ taxpayer-funded Aotearoa Music Awards.
However, Bishop stood by the substance of his comment labelling Stan Walker’s performance “a load of crap”, a reference, he said, not to the music itself but to the overt political symbolism on stage.
His remark came during a segment featuring tino rangatiratanga flags, and banners linked to Te Pāti Māori, promoting Māori sovereignty, which Bishop described as “performative acclaim.”
He was filmed seated with a beer, voicing frustration at the display. “On reflection, I should have kept my thoughts to myself,” he later said, but didn’t walk back the sentiment.
Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour defended Bishop, suggesting the reaction was overblown. “My first inclination is maybe he’s right,” Seymour told media, “and I suspect a lot of other people may agree.”
Veteran musician Don McGlashan, unaware he was confronting a Cabinet minister, told Bishop to “shut up, you d***head.”
Editor’s note: What went unmentioned by mainstream reporting was that Stan Walker’s career has benefited from significant taxpayer support through New Zealand’s arts and broadcasting funding agencies. He has received hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer funding over the years—covering music videos, albums, documentaries, and more.
The Aotearoa Music Awards, where this incident occurred, is also publicly funded. Walker’s te reo Māori projects in particular would likely not be commercially viable without state support.
That context matters. Chris Bishop, a senior Cabinet Minister, represents taxpayers – many of whom may see the overtly political messaging in this setting as hypocritical.
Yet many mainstream reports frame Bishop negatively. He is referred to as “a d***head” more than once in each article. Yet, any discussion of the state’s role in financing Walker’s career or the politicisation of taxpayer-funded platforms is omitted.
Centrist.co.nz