Prince Harry has been accused of ‘appropriating’ Maori culture after he appeared in a bizarre advert to plug his eco-travel firm Travalyst.
The Duke of Sussex appeared in the five-minute video yesterday and delivered several phrases in Te Reo Maori. Launching his campaign on Maori Television’s current affairs programme Te Ao with Moana, Harry described New Zealand as a country of ‘sustainability pioneers’ and called his project his ‘new kaupapa‘ – the Maori word for work that is considered principled and for public good.
He went on to praise Maori culture, which he said ‘inherently understands sustainable practices and how to take better care of our life-giving-land, which are critical lessons which we can all learn’.
However, he has come under fire from royal fans who have accused him of appropriating Maori culture to plug his eco-firm.
Taking to Twitter, one wrote: ‘Usually a white man launching a global brand would be accused of appropriating Maori culture. Not sure Prince Harry will get the same treatment.’
Another said: ‘So Prince Harry is now appropriating Māori culture to cash in on mental health.’
While a third added: ‘How does it feel for Maori to be used by Harry to market his business. Did he ask first?’
In another potential embarrassment for the duke, his video comes just weeks after the Māori party called for the Queen to be removed as New Zealand’s head of state.
Calling for a ‘divorce’, co-leader Rawiri Waititi said the Crown has failed in its duty of care: ‘What we’ve had until now is a one-sided relationship, completely defined by the Crown. That looks more like a dictatorship than a partnership.’
Last night, a Kiwi comic who starred alongside Prince Harry in the advert once called Jewish people ‘expendable’, said Hitler ‘had a right’ and that HIV sufferers deserved to be ‘roasted’ in a brutal comedy roast more than a decade ago, it emerged last night.
Dave Fane, the creator of animated TV series Bro’Town, appears in Harry’s five-minute video as a ‘rating agent’ who ambushes the British royal as he jogs through California, which doubles as the backdrop for New Zealand woodland.
In the clip, Fane claims he is meant to be assessing the duke, saying: ‘I’m supposed to be rating Harry. You’ve got Harry Styley and I’ve got the stylish Harry.’
It has since reemerged that the 56-year-old came under fire for making a string of allegedly racist and homophobic comments at the inaugural Radio Roast in 2010.
Fane told an audience at the comedy event that ‘Hitler had a right’, that ‘Jews were expendable’, and that HIV sufferers deserved to be ‘roasted’, Stuff reported.
At the event, he said: ‘Would you roast an HIV person? You’d roast them because they’re expendable, like the Jews. Hitler had a right, you know.’
The jokes were so incendiary that at the time, Fane was suspended from his position as host of breakfast radio show Flava for a week, with Radio Network chief executive John McElhinney saying that the remarks were inappropriate even in the context of a ‘roast’.
Apologising to the New Zealand Aids Foundation and New Zealand Jewish Council, Fane said: ‘They were dumb words, said by a dumb man.’
A spokesman for Fane told MailOnline: ‘Those words were taken out of context at the time and were deeply regretted. They did not then and do not now reflect his personal beliefs. Dave made an abject apology both to the Jewish council and to the public at the time, this event took place over 12 years ago.’
MailOnline has contacted a representative for the Duke of Sussex for comment.
In the five-minute video, published on the YouTube page of Harry’s non-profit organisation Travalyst today, the Queen’s grandson is ambushed by ‘rating agent’ Rhys Darby and accused of dropping a lolly wrapper four years earlier on a trip to the country with Meghan.
The bizarre skit, which also features Kiwi actor Rena Owen, launches the first-ever initiative launched in New Zealand for the British prince’s non-profit Travalyst organisation, founded in 2019, in which holidaymakers, rather than holidays, are rated for how sustainable they are. Kiwis now have access to a rating tool on the Travalyst website as part of a pilot initiative encouraging travellers to consider sustainable options during planning for their next trip.
It is unclear why the duke chose New Zealand for the project, but Harry is known to love the country and considered moving there with his wife when they acrimoniously quit as frontline royals, before opting for LA instead.