Outrage after Paul Henry comments

CAROLYN ENTING/Dominion Post

IN HOT WATER: Paul Henry's comments about British singing sensation Susan Boyle have resulted in a flood of complaints to TVNZ.

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Motor-mouth TV host Paul Henry is again in trouble for his on-air antics – this time for insulting people with intellectual disabilities.

On Monday's Breakfast show, he referred to Scottish singer Susan Boyle, runner-up in the show Britain's Got Talent, as "retarded".

Reading from a magazine article, he laughed as he described how she was "starved of oxygen" at birth and suffered an intellectual disability.

"Here's the really interesting revelation: she is in fact retarded ...

"And if you look at her carefully, you can make it out," he told viewers. He also made fun of the fact she was "ritualistically beaten" at school.

IHC New Zealand spokeswoman Philippa Sellens said Henry's use of the word retarded was "highly offensive". "It was in extremely bad taste to use his position as a broadcaster to 'entertain' by mocking a sector of the community that has difficulty speaking up for themselves."

Up to 40 viewers had contacted IHC to express their outrage, she said. The organisation has been calling on the public to complain to TVNZ and the Human Rights Commission about the "inappropriate and discriminatory" comments. "We've had a massive response".

TVNZ spokeswoman Megan Richards said she was unable to comment on the complaints as they were "going through the usual process".

This year the Broadcasting Standards Authority found Henry had breached standards of good taste, decency and fairness with his "moustache on a lady" comments – but ruled TVNZ's response had been adequate.

Henry had ignored the pleas of his producers and co-host Alison Mau and in March read out emails from viewers mocking Greenpeace spokeswoman Stephanie Mills' appearance.

TVNZ's response was that Henry's "shoot-from-the-lip hyperbolic comments" were an accepted part of the show, but he had been censured.

Paul Henry Speaks ..."They are so arrogant and hideous people, campervan people." Teenage mum a "slapper". Obese children "should be taken away from their parents and put in a car compactor". Convicted murderer Antonie Dixon dies: "I can hear a chorus of people saying 'thank goodness'." "Highlighters are not as good as permanent markers for sniffing." "He was a crazy freak like all obsessive compulsive people are." A sample of some of Henry's bon mots which resulted in complaints to the BSA. None were upheld.

- © Fairfax NZ News