Labour MP Ginny Andersen reshared a post which made an explicit reference with regard to an outfit King Charles wore at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Samoa. Photos / Mark Mitchell, @christopherluxon
Labour MP Ginny Andersen reshared a post which made an explicit reference with regard to an outfit King Charles wore at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Samoa. Photos / Mark Mitchell, @christopherluxon
Warning: This article contains sexually explicit references.
Former Labour minister and list MP Ginny Andersen has apologised “for any offence caused” after she reshared a meme on her personal Instagram poking fun at King Charles’ trousers.
Andersen reposted the meme of Prime Minister href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/christopher-luxon/" target="_blank">Christopher Luxon and King Charles meeting at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Samoa, which took aim at the shape of His Majesty’s beige suit pants.
However, the former Police Minister has since removed the post from her social media accounts and issued a statement this evening about the faux pas.
“I shouldn’t have shared it. I regret doing so and apologise for any offence caused.”
Luxon and the King were attending the meeting in Apia this week, as leaders and foreign ministers from 56 Commonwealth nations came together for the annual summit. The pair snapped a photo together while there, which the Prime Minister shared on Instagram.
“King Charles III has a great love of New Zealand. It was a pleasure to have an audience with His Majesty today in Samoa,” Luxon captioned the post.
The post Andersen reshared – a meme created by the page @cindywithsign – took the picture shared by Luxon, overlaying the screenshot with a sign that labelled a clothing blunder the King had in the photo as a “king*ssy”.
“What I’m saying to you is that showing his king*ssy on main like that is just crazy [crying emoji],” the sign read.
@cindywithsign is a meme page that creates humorous posts relating to developments in New Zealand politics. The format of their memes typically includes a subject – like a photo or social media post – alongside a sign shrouded with satirical commentary salient to the current political landscape.
Former Labour Minister and list MP Ginny Andersen reshared the meme on her personal Instagram. Photo / @ginny_andersen
“King*ssy” is a portmanteau of the words “king” and “p*ssy”. In this case, as with similar terms, people often combine the latter with other words to express that something vaguely resembles female anatomy.
Here, the quip was used to refer to the shape of His Majesty’s trousers, suggesting they resemble female genitalia.
“King*ssy was not a word or a thing I needed to know existed,” read one comment on the post, while another person added: “I spat out my drink reading this.”
“How this was even anatomically possible, I do not knaur [sic],” wrote a third.
Sharing the monarch’s “king*ssy” on Luxon’s “main” Instagram – as opposed to a private one where you’d post personal content without public access – was described as “crazy” by the meme page, suggesting the public would’ve likely picked up on it. A crying emoji, used to signal something funny, was also added to hint at the absurdity of the King’s gaffe.
Observant followers in Luxon’s comment section also picked up on the fashion mishap, meaning its discovery was not limited to the meme page.
“What’s going on with the King’s fit?” asked one person. Another seemed less impressed with Charles’ outfit, writing: “Honestly, if that’s how a King wears a suit...”
Others on social media spun jokes out of the unidentified Navy ship seen in the background, referencing the recent sinking of HMNZS Manawanui off the coast of Upolu, Samoa on October 6.
RNZN divers on the scene above the wreck of HMNZS Manawanui, off the southern coast of Upulo, Samoa. Photo / New Zealand Defence Force
“Is that the Manawanui rising from the dead behind them?” joked one person on the meme post.
One person told Luxon it was “good to see you’ve brought your dad to help with the clean-up”, as another said: “Hope an oil clean-up of the ocean was part of your trip”.
Other people came to defend the pair in the comments section.
One Kiwi wrote people may “mock Charles” but noted, “He was a very early adopter of climate change mentality and more importantly acted on it!”
A fellow Kiwi questioned Luxon’s response to the disaster, stating he’d avoided visiting the site of the shipwreck and didn’t know if he would meet with impacted communities.
Ginny Andersen (right) has remained a senior Labour MP while the party is in Opposition. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Andersen is a senior Labour MP who has served in the House of Representatives since 2017. Under the sixth Labour government, she held the positions of both Minister of Justice and Minister of Police under the leadership of Chris Hipkins.
She is currently ranked 17th on Labour’s party list, having lost her seat in 2023 to National Party MP Chris Bishop in the Hutt South electorate after defeating him by nearly 4000 votes in the 2020 election.
