New Zealand’s leading current affairs broadcaster, Paul Holmes, apologised on Wednesday for calling United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan a ”cheeky darkie” on his morning radio show.
Holmes said he ”surrendered to baseness” when he said on his daily nationwide Newstalk ZB programme that the world was not going to be told how to live by a Ghanaian.
”It was an appalling thing to say,” he was later quoted as saying on the website of Television New Zealand where he also hosts a high-rating current affairs programme every weeknight.
”I think I felt like breaking out … whatever I am I’m not a racist,” Holmes said.
However, he stuck to his criticism of the UN, saying, ”Half of that General Assembly sitting there looking down their noses at [United States President] George Bush represent some of the most pernicious regimes in the world, some of whom probably survive on American favour.
”It’s absurd to say the UN kept the peace for 58 years,” he said.
Holmes said he had tried as a broadcaster to be a voice of tolerance, adding, ”I welcome immigrants of all colours and creeds. I celebrate differences and look for the similarities.
”But this morning I was extreme. I don’t mind being detested by the far left but I don’t relish being approved of by the far right.” — Sapa-DPA