{"id":400830,"date":"2026-04-28T02:08:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T02:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/400830\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T02:08:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T02:08:10","slug":"tvnz-political-editor-maiki-sherman-allegedly-used-a-homophobic-slur-in-an-incident-involving-lloyd-burr-in-finance-minister-nicola-willis-office","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/400830\/","title":{"rendered":"TVNZ political editor Maiki Sherman allegedly used a homophobic slur in an incident involving Lloyd Burr in Finance Minister Nicola Willis\u2019 office"},"content":{"rendered":"

Willis was present at the event.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can confirm I hosted a function for press gallery journalists in my office ahead of last year\u2019s Budget,\u201d Willis said in a statement to Media Insider today.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was out of the room for a few minutes and returned to hear offensive language being used. I ended the event at that point.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe following day, I checked in on the welfare of the reporter at whom the language was directed. He advised me he did not want to take the matter any further. I respected his decision.\u201d<\/p>\n

The alleged incident \u2013 which has been subject to rumours and media inquiries in recent months \u2013 was reported publicly today by political commentator and women\u2019s rights advocate Ani O\u2019Brien on her Substack page.<\/p>\n

It is understood NZME\u2019s Newstalk ZB has also been investigating the alleged incident for a news report. <\/p>\n

O\u2019Brien said there were reports that Sherman had made the comment in response to a comment allegedly made by Burr, but this has been firmly denied by both him and his employer, Stuff.<\/p>\n

\"LloydLloyd Burr – along with Melissa Chan-Green – previously hosted Three’s AM show, until its closure in 2024.<\/p>\n

Burr said today he would provide a statement, but \u201cI can tell you right now that I never used a … slur to Maiki or anyone\u201d.<\/p>\n

Stuff said in a statement: \u201cStuff Group stands by, and has complete faith in, Lloyd Burr\u2019s account of the events and his conduct in Minister Willis\u2019 office last May. We will continue to respect his wishes not to comment further on what occurred that night.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is understood that Sherman was also left in tears following the incident, one source told Media Insider today.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Brien said that \u201cthe precise factual dispute over what prompted the exchange remains unresolved\u201d.<\/p>\n

But she said attendees were drinking, and she claimed that the word \u201cf****t\u201d had been used in a professional setting.<\/p>\n

The Herald has chosen to redact the slur.<\/p>\n

Sherman has not returned a call or Media Insider messages today.<\/p>\n

Media Insider asked TVNZ a range of questions, including whether O\u2019Brien\u2019s report was accurate, and:<\/p>\n

What was the result of any TVNZ investigation, and what is TVNZ\u2019s position today on the circumstances of the incident?Is the incident being re-investigated in any respect?Was the TVNZ board briefed on the incident? If so, when? If not, why not? What was the TVNZ board advised?Is it true, as O\u2019Brien reports, that TVNZ sent a legal letter to NZME in regards to inquiries that Newstalk ZB was making in relation to the alleged incident? What was the rationale\/nature of this legal letter? Why was it sent?<\/p>\n

TVNZ refused to comment today.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do not comment on employment matters,\u201d a spokeswoman said today.<\/p>\n

\"FinanceFinance Minister Nicola Willis. Photo \/ Mark Mitchell<\/p>\n

The revelations come after an incident involving Sherman and another TVNZ staff member last week, which is now the subject of a National Party complaint to the state broadcaster.<\/p>\n

National claims that the TVNZ staff breached parliamentary rules as they sought comment from party whip Stuart Smith late one evening last week.<\/p>\n

Senior National MP Simeon Brown said TVNZ staff followed Smith into a corridor area this week, \u201can area where media interviews are not allowed without express permission\u201d.<\/p>\n

Brown wrote on X that TVNZ staff \u201caggressively banged on [Smith\u2019s] door for several minutes, refusing to accept Mr Smith declining to add further to a statement he had already made\u201d.<\/p>\n

Brown further alleged that TVNZ staff \u201cpressured him [Smith] about how he would be portrayed on Breakfast the following morning if he did not come out to talk to TVNZ\u201d<\/p>\n

TVNZ said it had a different view on that version of events.<\/p>\n

A TVNZ spokeswoman said last week: \u201cOur journalist was asking questions on behalf of the public, as they do every day.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis story came to light due to leaking from National Party MPs. It was a legitimate story to follow. We look forward to Stuart Smith making himself available to explain his absence from caucus.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said TVNZ had \u201ca different view of what took place\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIrrespective, the correct place for complaints to be raised is with the Speaker of the House, who has authority over these matters, not with TVNZ or on social media. Simeon Brown is well aware of this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brown said the behaviour of TVNZ was \u201cunacceptable and a clear breach of parliament\u2019s rules\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe respect the role of media, but there are standards, and those standards matter.<\/p>\n

\u201cNew Zealanders want a fair, balanced and accurate media reporting on the issues that matter to them \u2013 not a media-driven soap opera.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Friday, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced he would no longer appear on TVNZ\u2019s Breakfast show for his regular Monday morning interview slot with hosts Tova O\u2019Brien and Chris Chang. <\/p>\n

Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie is one of New Zealand\u2019s most experienced senior journalists and media leaders. He has held executive and senior editorial roles at NZME including Managing Editor, NZ Herald Editor and Herald on Sunday Editor and has a small shareholding in NZME.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Willis was present at the event. \u201cI can confirm I hosted a function for press gallery journalists in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":400831,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1554,7818,8831,185430,11220,17247,32896,8231,246,42,206847,78,671,29819,685,8526,172523,206845,6722,43,20484,6270,21940,18154,206848,30248,21674,206846,9521,40,38,41,39,6445,39163,13797,792,379],"class_list":{"0":"post-400830","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-alleged","9":"tag-allegedly","10":"tag-an","11":"tag-burr","12":"tag-comment","13":"tag-drinks","14":"tag-editor","15":"tag-event","16":"tag-finance","17":"tag-headlines","18":"tag-homophobic","19":"tag-in","20":"tag-incident","21":"tag-involving","22":"tag-last","23":"tag-latenight","24":"tag-lloyd","25":"tag-maiki","26":"tag-minister","27":"tag-news","28":"tag-nicola","29":"tag-office","30":"tag-placed","31":"tag-political","32":"tag-prebudget","33":"tag-renewed","34":"tag-scrutiny","35":"tag-sherman","36":"tag-slur","37":"tag-top-news","38":"tag-top-stories","39":"tag-topnews","40":"tag-topstories","41":"tag-tvnz","42":"tag-tvnzs","43":"tag-used","44":"tag-willis","45":"tag-year"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=400830"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400830\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/400831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=400830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=400830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=400830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}