A newsreader's use of the term “fag” in reference to equestrian rider Mark Todd was unintentional, according to TVNZ. The usually sedate Peter Williams quipped "Some of Mark Todd's personal habits frankly don't lend to being ... he's had the odd fag over the years, hasn't he?" during a Breakfast discussion about the rider's win at the Badminton Horse Trials. Williams then went on to say he meant fag as in ‘cigarette'. TVNZ spokeswoman Megan Richards has told the New Zealand Herald the comment from Williams and any innuendo was accidental and not malicious. "It seems to have been one of those conversations that went slightly off the rails, where the participants realised they were talking in double meanings. "Everybody's had the experience of a conversation which has headed off in a direction that they weren't intending." British newspaper Sunday Mirror alleged in 2000 that Todd, an Olympic gold medallist, had snorted cocaine with a rent boy.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Wednesday, 27th April 2011 - 11:26am