NZ Politician Gets Hit In The Face With A Dildo; Seems Genuinely Pleased About It
Maybe he thinks it's a sign of affection.
On Thursday, the controversial Trans Pacific Partnership agreement — one of the biggest multinational trade deals ever — was signed by all of its 12 member nations in Auckland. The deal involves the US, Japan, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore, Brunei, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Mexico, Chile and Peru, who all now have two years to either ratify or reject the pact. Australia’s minister for trade Andrew Robb was the first to sign.
The TPP has caused quite a bit of public backlash (particularly in America, Australia and New Zealand), and there’s concerns it favours large corporations, and puts ordinary citizens — and even governments — at financial risk. The Australian Greens have consistently called for greater scrutiny and transparency, saying the deal in its current form will push up the cost of medicines. The Labor Party, however, have wholeheartedly supported the agreement.
Community resistance to the TPP has arguably been the strongest in New Zealand. There have been several large protests staged over the past year, with an estimated 15,000 shutting down the center of Auckland on Thursday. Yesterday, New Zealand’s Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce attended an event for Waitangi Day (a national commemorative holiday), but Prime Minister John Key pulled out over concerns further anti-TPP protests would get too rowdy.
And he was… not wrong. During a live interview, Joyce got hit in the face with a dildo. The protestor — who yelled, “That’s for raping our sovereignty. That’s for raping our country, because of the TPPA and selling away our rights and our freedom” — had a near perfect aim, clocking the minister right on the chin. But what’s even more interesting, is that instead of looking shocked or outraged or any other reasonable emotion a normal person would react with, Joyce looked like a wholly delighted newborn baby:
And here is that exact moment again, but from a highly necessary closer angle:
Dildo-wielding TPP protester attacks politicianSo this happened today. New Zealand’s Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce was talking to media at Waitangi when a #TPPA protester flung a dildo at his face. Full story: https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/tpp-protester-boldly-chucks-dildo-at-steven-joyce-waitangi
Posted by ONE News on Thursday, 4 February 2016
The dildo-welding woman — who has since been identified as a nurse named Josie Butler — was taken into custody and is expected to be charged. Joyce, on the other hand, backed up his genuinely pleased reaction to copping a rubber penis to the face on Twitter, where he openly invited people to send a gif of the moment to John Oliver.
Well there's always something new in politics..
— Steven Joyce (@stevenljoyce) February 5, 2016
Someone send the gif over to John Oliver so we can get it over with..
— Steven Joyce (@stevenljoyce) February 5, 2016
I’m not sure Oliver’s coverage would be particularly flattering of Joyce and his government — the political issue surrounding dildogate is just the kind of thing to rile him up — but here’s the utterly magical gif nevertheless:
Shot.
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