Fa'afafine performer Lindah LePou says she's insulted at comments from a Pasifika festival spokesperson on Radio NZ that she was removed at the last minute from presenting an award at the Pacific Music Awards by an artist who would lend more mana to the occasion. A decision made by the Pacific Music Awards committee to have LePou present the award for best male artist appears to have been over-ridden at the last minute by a production manager for the Pasifika Festival opening ceremony, which incorporated the Music Awards ceremony. "I was beside the stage, with the envelope in my hand, ready to go and announce the winner," LePou told GayNZ.com "All of a sudden, the stage manager takes the award off me and security comes running and signals me to get off stage. Thinking there must be an emergency, I walk down stage, and he tells me I've been cut for an international artist, and because I'm fa'afafine I will offend some of the Christians in the audience." LePou says she received a call from organisers on the day of the event asking if it was alright for her to jointly present the award with George Veikoso, aka Fiji, a visiting Hawaii-based artist. She agreed, but says she detected negative vibes at the ceremony rehearsal from Fiji's management, as well as strange looks from the security guard who later removed her. LePou is consulting a lawyer this evening about her options regarding taking a case to the Human Rights Commission. She says despite being cut from the ceremony, the MCs still announced her, leaving the audience to think she hadn't turned up. “People in the audience thought I'd done a no-show, embarrassing me in front of thousands of people. It made me look unprofessional,” she says. Members of LePou's family were also in the audience. “My whole family was there. The Pasifika Festival see this as just affecting one person, but they don't even realise – it's my whole family.” Representatives from the Pacific Music Awards and the Pasifika Festival were unavailable for comment at the time of publication.