"He was gay - but he was very, very nice,” Buck Shelford said of his instructor. Television New Zealand is defending broadcasting a reality travel programme in which rugby legend Buck Shelford denigrates a gay man in a comment which a glbti counselling service considers homophobic. In an episode of Intrepid Journeys aired on TV One on Sunday afternoon, for which Buck Shelford travelled through Cuba, the ex-All Black at one point took a lesson in salsa dancing. In a voiced-over narration Shelford said of his dance instructor: “I got a bit of a shock turning up there with a guy who was actually, um, he was gay - but he was very, very nice,” revealing his unease with homosexuality and implying that there was something less than ok with being gay. Ironically, the episode was broadcast on the same day a research report was released showing that homophobia in sport has an extremely negative effect on young glbti New Zealanders. Asked whether airing the comment was acceptable and why the dance instructor was the only person in the entire programme whose sexuality was highlighted, TVNZ spokesperson Lenska Papich says "As with all our programmes different viewers will respond differently to the same content. We acknowledge some people will have interpreted Buck’s comments negatively and others will have viewed an All Black legend openly enjoying doing the Salsa with a gay dance instructor in a positive way."Such comments are part of culture in which "sport in New Zealand is typically thought to be a masculine domain" and are "a constant reminder to gay people that they are not accepted and are not considered normal," says Trevor Easton, General Manager of the national counselling, support and advocacy service OutlineNZ. "This sort of statement is an extremely good example of homophobia in the sports arena." While defending broadcasting Shelford's anti-gay slur Papich has also distanced TVNZ from the content of the commissioned programme. She says the comments "made by Buck in relation to the featured dance instructor were unscripted and his own... TVNZ does not support discrimination in any form."
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Tuesday, 12th May 2015 - 8:46am