Alesyia Gibb was quickly dropped from John Key's Facebook friends list after a 'polite but forthright' anti-whaling message. Photos / Mark Mitchell, supplied
A woman dumped as a friend by Prime Minister John Key's Facebook persona has recalled the "straightforward" anti-whaling message that caused their split.
Last Wednesday, Alesyia Gibb posted on Mr Key's Facebook "wall" for the first time with a "polite but forthright" anti-whaling message.
Within hours, her message had been
deleted and she had been "de-friended", Ms Gibb told Sideswipe.
Ms Gibb had not kept a copy of the message but it was short and she remembered it verbatim, she said today.
"No whaling under ANY circumstances should be advocated by the elected leader of New Zealand. To do so goes against the deeply held principles of a majority of New Zealanders. I urge you to listen to the people you were elected to represent," she said she had written.
"That's it - it was pretty straightforward, and certainly not abusive. Nevertheless myself and my opinions were not considered to be 'friendly' enough I guess," she said.
Ms Gibb, a Facebook fan of "I Love NZ", "All Blacks" and "Ayn Rand", had been one of about 5000 Facebook friends of Mr Key "for quite some time".
"Although I can see the funny side, I do find it a disturbing that Mr Key deals with dissenting views in such a petulant manner. I guess I won't be getting a Christmas card this year," she said.
Mr Key's office has not yet responded.
Mr Key has both a Facebook "page" and a "person", with the former open to the public and the latter closed to just his friends.
While his "person" has friends, his "page" has fans - more than 19,000 of them.
