American Magic fan Ollie Wall, son of legendary real estate man Graham Wall, has apologised for dressing as horned Capitol rioter and QAnon supporter Jake Angeli.
He was photographed yesterday posing as the figure known as "QAnon Shaman" on a boat with fans watching the Prada Cup races on the Waitemata Harbour.
"I am truly sorry for any offence caused by my silly outfit choice," Wall said.
"A friend had the good idea of supporting the teams who have made a huge effort to be here and unfortunately had very little support on the water for obvious reasons.
"We were asked to dress up 'USA' for Saturday's races to show American Magic support. My intention was to poke fun at the QAnon character and have a laugh at his utter ridiculousness.
"However, I ignorantly had no idea at the time the significance and depths of that person's ideology and evilness."
Angeli became the face of last week's deadly assault on the US Capitol after his painted face and unusual head gear went around the world.
His real name is Jacob Anthony Chansley and he has been charged with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, and with violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
At least five people have died as a result of the riots, and President Donald Trump has been impeached for allegedly inciting the violence.
Wall says he has learned "a fair bit" about QAnon since and in hindsight believes his costume choice was "a stupid idea".
"What is also concerning to me is the flood of unproductive abuse and online bullying in response to my mistake," he said.
"My family have had a raft of personal attacks including references to Molotov cocktails which, rather than educating me on my mistake, it's shown me the way that social media is dividing our society."
On social media, his choice of costume has been criticised as being of poor taste, insensitive and stupid.
One person wrote: "I want to give him the benefit of the doubt and say he's being satirical. But then I'm like, should you really portray a terrorist? Then I remember how many people had Osama bin Laden masks back in the day, so yea conflicted."
The Wall Real Estate business is famous for having sold some of the most expensive real estate in and around Auckland.