Netizens Scold Australian TV Host for Mocking NZ PM on Mosques Shootings

Twitter users have hit out at Australian TV host Sam Newman after he mocked New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern over her speech about last week’s deadly Christchurch mosques shootings.

“Thank heavens NZ prime minister said she will never mention the name of the terrorist. How grating is her accent?” Newman, a former Australian rules football player, wrote in a tweet.

Newman immediately received backlash, with netizens calling him an “idiot” who has never changed since the 1980s and slamming “any of the wind” coming out of his “regressive racist sexist neck”.

“We're extraordinarily proud of our PM's empathy, dignity and strength in this awful time. She has articulated our grief, our sympathy, our shock, our anger and our determination to change our lax gun laws. She speaks for us, and like us”, one Twitter user said.

In an emotional address to parliament earlier this week, Prime Minister Ardern said that the gunman who was responsible for the Christchurch mosques massacre “sought many things from his act of terror, but one was notoriety — that is why you will never hear me mention his name”.

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“I implore you: Speak the names of those who were lost rather than the name of the man who took them. He is a terrorist. He is a criminal. He is an extremist. But he will, when I speak, be nameless”, she stressed, adding that the gunman “will face the full force of the law in New Zealand”.

Ardern’s remarks came after a New Zealand court ruled that 28-year-old Australian national Brenton Tarrant should stay in custody without plea until 5 April. Earlier, he was charged with murder following the 15 March Christchurch mosques attacks which killed 50 people and injured 50 more.