Mr Key, referring to the Tuhoe iwi's annoyance with him over recent treaty negotiation difficulties, commented that he would have been dinner if he'd been in Tuhoe territory instead of at a dinner with Ngati Porou members. He repeated the joke a day later, telling a tourism sector breakfast about it: "As I said, the good news was that I was having dinner with Ngati Porou as opposed to their neighbouring iwi, which is Tuhoe, in which case I would have been the dinner." Later he apologised, smiling, saying "Ahh look, it was a light-hearted joke, a bit of self-deprecating humour, but if anyone is offended, then I deeply apologise."
There has been debate about Mr Key's intent, of course, but a little thought experiment shows us that the only way his comment makes sense as a joke is because it references beliefs that Maori used to be cannibals.
Imagine Mr Key making exactly the same joke about any group of predominantly pakeha people he had recently upset. Let's try some examples:
"As I said, the good news was that I was having dinner with Ngati Porou as opposed to the Remuera Chamber of Commerce, in which case I would have been the dinner."
"As I said, the good news was that I was having dinner with Ngati Porou as opposed to the Green Party, in which case I would have been the dinner."
"As I said, the good news was that I was having dinner with Ngati Porou as opposed to the Friends of National Radio, in which case I would have been the dinner."
No, they don't work for me, either. In fact, the more examples I think of, keeping the context completely non-racial, the more nonsensical and unfunny the comment gets.
The fact that My Key actually repeated the joke, instead of acknowledging the offence caused when he first served it up, further demonstrates his bad judgement in making what is clearly only a joke because it conjures up a negative racial stereotype.
