Television presenter Oriini Kaipara, proudly wearing a traditional Māori face tattoo, responded gracefully to online trolls, reaffirming her cultural pride and identity.
Kaipara, a trailblazing 41-year-old newsreader for New Zealand’s Newshub, made history as the first person to deliver a primetime news bulletin while wearing the moko kauae, a significant cultural symbol worn by Māori women. The moko kauae, traditionally placed on the lips and chin, reflects a woman’s heritage, status, leadership, and familial connections within the Māori community, the indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand.
Despite the praise Kaipara has received, one viewer named David expressed his displeasure through an email to Newshub. According to the Daily Mail, David’s message criticized Kaipara’s appearance, calling her moko “offensive and aggressive looking” and dismissing her use of the Māori language as “incoherent.”
Rather than ignoring the remarks, Kaipara confronted them head-on. She shared the email exchange on her Instagram story, handling the situation with grace and dignity. In her response to David, Kaipara pointed out that his complaints were based on personal preferences about appearance and corrected his misspelling of the word “moko.” She made it clear that moko kauae represents no threat, and such expressions of cultural pride do not deserve intolerance or discrimination.
“We mean no harm or ill intent,” Kaipara wrote. “Neither do we deserve to be treated with such disregard.” She added a sharp rebuke, telling David to hold off on expressing his “cultural ignorance and bias” until a time more suited to such views—“ideally the 1800s.”
Despite this negative comment, Kaipara emphasized that most responses to her are positive, and trolls like David are the exception. In an interview with the New Zealand Herald following the incident, Kaipara spoke about the importance of having more Māori advocates in prominent positions. “The fact that my existence triggers some people is testament to why we need more Māori advocates in key roles across every sector,” she said.
Kaipara’s composed response serves as a powerful reminder of the importance of cultural pride and resilience. Her actions inspire others to embrace their identities with confidence and stand up against prejudice.
Woman Says Man’s Aggressive Outburst At Gym Is Proof ‘Women Aren’t Safe In 2024’
“I work at a gym and have never seen anyone do what you were doing,” one writes.
“Looks nothing like pulse squats,” another agrees.
Other commenters are angry at Ruvee for filming herself in a public place.
“Ban video recording in gyms!!” one demands.
“Cameras should be banned, and she should 100 per cent be banned forever,” another shares.
While a third writes: “It’s the facial expressions. Pulse squats is one thing but adding facial expressions to make it look like something else is where she went wrong.”
In the video, a man approaches Ruvee while asking: “What are you doing?”
She explains it’s a leg warm-up, and he replies: “I know what you’re doing.”
The man then accuses Ruvee of being ‘what’s wrong with girls’, at which point the woman asks him: “Are you pointing at me?”
He goes on to describe her behaviour as ‘ridiculous’ before kicking her phone away, seemingly breaking the screen.
Later on, Ruvee speculates that the man knew who she was and that he was angry because of her OFs fame.
“I can’t believe I’m not allowed to stretch at the gym because of what I do for work,” she shares on Instagram.
“Before I started OFs I was doing the same stretch before every leg day,” she says in a follow-up TikTok video.
“And all the people saying that I deserve to have my phone kicked, I deserve to be harassed in public because I was minding my business in the smallest corner of the gym… is there a rule that says no phones? No there’s not. Was it on a tripod? Was I being obnoxious? No, I wasn’t. Was I being loud? No.
“So it’s really sad to me to see all these comments saying that I deserve something because I went to the gym and was stretching.”
There has since been some speculation on X, formerly known as Twitter, about whether or not the video was a staged skit.
Leave a Reply