Te Anau brigade 'gutted' skit video removed

The Te Anau Volunteer Fire Brigade is "gutted" a fundraising video it shared online has caused offence.

The video was one of many created in recent weeks by Southlanders and those from afar to show support for the Southland Charity Hospital and the "Buy a Brick" campaign - a fundraising initiative for the project.

A message posted on the brigade’s Facebook page yesterday stated it had been asked to remove its video.

"Sorry folks we have been asked to remove our fundraising video as it has caused offence, for which we apologise unreservedly," it read.

"It was never our intention to cause any offence. To say we are gutted would be an understatement."

The brigade was approached but declined to add any further comment "in the near future".

The statement did not detail the complaint’s content or origin.

Within an hour of being published, the statement’s comments section was inundated with messages of support for the brigade.

A commenter who had seen the video before it was removed told the Otago Daily Times it featured firefighters performing a "mock catwalk" to the Right Said Fred song I’m Too Sexy.

It did not involve anything offensive, apart from "the odd shirt off and a bit of gyrating", she said.

"It was hilarious and they did an amazing job for a totally worthwhile cause... I’ve known some of the guys a long time and seen a whole new side to them."

She believed people should "get on board" with the video and the cause, rather than criticising the firefighters for trying to help.

One commenter described it as a "harmless bit of fun", another said it was

"awesome" and another that those who took offence must have "missed the message".

abbey.palmer@odt.co.nz


 

Comments

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A Fire Brigade with members putting in hundreds of hours of their volunteer time, most holding down fulltime jobs, and often risking their lives for the local community, wanting to fundraise for a new building I presume (Buy a Brick).
It seems we live in a world where ONE person gets offended, and all hell breaks loose.
May I suggest that person contributes to the cause, rather than complaining about it. Great to sit on your backside criticising Facebook fundraisers for what is an essential service. These guys and gals attend our emergencies at the drop of a hat. They're always there when we need them. Maybe think about WHY volunteer fire stations all over the country are forced to fundraise before looking to be offended.
Social media, television and stand-up comedy is full of genuinely offensive material, far beyond any 'Full Monty' parody. Seems to easy to crush the dedicated efforts of others from your phone. THAT I find is offensive.

Ah yes, the perpetually offended brigade strike again.

I am offended at the person offended by this harmless video that is a bit of fun and doing something positive.
This is the crazy world that we live in now - that anyone can be offended by the smallest thing. Where does it end?
I think we should give them a good smack on the bum and send them to their room to think about what hey have done.

Put it back up so I can actually see what's offensive!
If it's only a single complaint and there's a majority of people who agree with it or don't find it offensive, then where has the democratic process gone - not to mention freedom of speech.
Unfortunately, there are some people out there who just want to complain for the sake of it and I'm pretty sure there would be plenty of other things on the internet that would be far more offensive... the Parliament channel being one of them !
If you don't like it, don't watch it - but don't shut it down and spoil the enjoyment of the majority of people... if I was the person who criticised this fundraising venture, I'd be a bit worried about how long the fire brigade would take to reach my house should it ever go on fire!!!

Seriously, what was there to complain about? It was light-hearted and a worthy cause.

So sick and tired of one or two people with warped views of things causing things like this fundraiser idea to be canned/deleted.

If everyone on the planet complained about everything that bugs them, and officials *had* to act on it, there would be almost no human interaction with each other ever again, no internet, no radio, no tv, no music, no print media - NOTHING.

That's the way things are slowly heading... Extreme view, but it is true.

I'm normal and I want my freedom back!

They should have developed some testes and politely refused. Why we all so easily give in to the minority, cancel culture, woke lefties, is beyond me.

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