\u201cThat\u2019s not going forward anymore,\u201d Clarke said after Letele asked about the nomination, which the former boxer won in 2022.<\/p>\n
The withdrawal of the nomination came after Clarke created two social media videos.<\/p>\n
Clarke explained he originally posted a video laughing at a girl who had openly admitted to cheating on her partner and contracting an STD (sexually transmitted disease). <\/p>\n
\u201cNow I thought that was pretty calm, I thought, you know, good job.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone else on there was roasting her harder than what I did, and I just laughed about it. The video went viral – she got quite upset about that because she got a lot of backlash. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn the end, I ended up apologising for it because I was like \u2018maybe it\u2019s a bit far\u2019. I apologised to her, and I 100% meant it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Clarke said this video controversy happened \u201cjust as the awards were coming into play\u201d.<\/p>\n
A month later, he posted another video. The skit saw Clarke putting on glasses where you couldn\u2019t see where his eyes were looking. He then proceeded to look under his wife\u2019s skirt.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a stupid, stupid comedy skit. I got a message from the New Zealander of the Year people saying, \u2018oh we\u2019ve dropped you, we\u2019re kicking you out of this\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
Clarke claimed he asked organisers if they were aware of the types of videos he made at the start of the nomination process, and they replied they were.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m a dark-humoured fella, I\u2019ve got Tourette\u2019s, I\u2019m going to call you an N-word, a c*** or a bastard. I\u2019m going to say s*** you don\u2019t like. Might as well live it and own it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
According to the New Zealander of the Year website, the award recognises \u201cthose whose actions have had a significant and lasting impact in their communities\u201d. <\/p>\n
The nominations for the 2026 awards were announced in November, and according to the organisation, Clarke still received a Local Hero Medal for his contributions.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe appreciate the positive contribution Leighton has made in reshaping conversations about disability, which led to him receiving a Local Hero Medal,\u201d the organisation added.<\/p>\n
Clarke told Letele while he was ” a bit upset” about the situation, he had nothing bad to say about the organisation, adding people should \u201cknow who you\u2019re getting into bed with\u201d, and that \u201dthings aren\u2019t always what they seem behind the scenes\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd real talk, I don\u2019t need a f****** medal to know I\u2019ve done right by my community,\u201d Clarke posted to Instagram after the video aired.<\/p>\n
Plenty of commenters supported Clarke in the comments, calling him out for his genuine and authentic nature when dealing with the situation.<\/p>\n
\u201cAward or no award, you\u2019re a legend,\u201d one said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not even from New Zealand but you are still my Local Hero,\u201d said another.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThat\u2019s not going forward anymore,\u201d Clarke said after Letele asked about the nomination, which the former boxer won…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":502504,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[41811,9490,64,63,25671,1703,86463,22806,447,252623,1791,90376,7110,134,138101,38324,74017,8835,252622,322,118477,3127,57151,1787,445,177999,252620,28374,252621,16372,9501,320,75822,223815,187864,111320,15340,252624,1547,183335],"class_list":{"0":"post-502503","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-advocate","9":"tag-after","10":"tag-au","11":"tag-australia","12":"tag-award","13":"tag-awards","14":"tag-backlash","15":"tag-been","16":"tag-celebrities","17":"tag-clarkes","18":"tag-content","19":"tag-deemed","20":"tag-disability","21":"tag-entertainment","22":"tag-failed","23":"tag-hero","24":"tag-influencer","25":"tag-kiwi","26":"tag-leighton","27":"tag-local","28":"tag-meet","29":"tag-new","30":"tag-nomination","31":"tag-of","32":"tag-online","33":"tag-organisers","34":"tag-rescinded","35":"tag-reveals","36":"tag-skit","37":"tag-some","38":"tag-that","39":"tag-the","40":"tag-tics","41":"tag-uncle","42":"tag-underpin","43":"tag-values","44":"tag-was","45":"tag-withdrawn","46":"tag-year","47":"tag-zealander"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=502503"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502503\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/502504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=502503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=502503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=502503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}