Rotorua Daily Post
  • Rotorua Daily Post home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Residential property listings
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Rural
  • Sport

Locations

  • Tauranga
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō & Tūrangi

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales

Weather

  • Rotorua
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Rotorua Daily Post

Rotorua man Gavin Eggleton apologises after tā moko Facebook comment sparks death threats and abuse

Kelly Makiha
By Kelly Makiha
Multimedia Journalist·Rotorua Daily Post·
17 Jun, 2020 02:58 AM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

A Rotorua man who made an offensive comment on Facebook has apologised. Photo / File
A Rotorua man who made an offensive comment on Facebook has apologised. Photo / File

A Rotorua man who made an offensive comment on Facebook has apologised. Photo / File

"I'm so, so, sorry. I'm not a racist."

These are the words of Rotorua's Gavin Eggleton, who says he has received death threats and abuse on Facebook after commenting that tā moko is a "bar code" for Work and Income.

The comments have also caused a massive backlash for a Rotorua motel after he was wrongly associated with the businesses on social media.

The 65-year-old told the Rotorua Daily Post he felt sick about his "stupid comment" and said he wanted to deeply apologise for the hurt he had caused.

Eggleton said he had become the subject of death threats and abuse after making the comment on a Facebook post on Tuesday night. He does not remember which page he made the comment on.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Eggleton, who said he was new to Facebook about six months ago and did not quite understand the repercussions, said he was commenting on a post about a woman with a tā moko and rental bond money.

Eggleton said he made the comment: "Another one with the winns bar code on her chin", off the cuff and it was directed at the woman, not Māori in general.

When he realised his "stupid mistake" he deleted the comment but by then it was too late.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

A screenshot of the post was shared hundreds of times. He was wrongly linked by others sharing the comment as the manager or owner of a Rotorua motel, Emerald Spa Resort on Fenton St, which has prompted calls for people to protest outside the motel and boycott it.

Eggleton said he was the manager of the motel more than 10 years ago and he was upset the motel was suffering because of his mistake.

The current owner of the resort, who spoke on condition of anonymity, contacted the Rotorua Daily Post today and said the phone had been ringing hot and they had fielded several emails from people abusing them.

She said they had been busy telling people Eggleton was no longer associated with the motel.

Discover more

Stoners or socially acceptable users? What Rotorua thinks of legalising cannabis

13 Jun 06:36 PM
New Zealand

Free smokes and a bed: The cost of housing our homeless

15 Jun 08:38 PM
New Zealand

Beverly Bouma's killer tells girlfriend: 'I'm gonna kill you'

12 Jun 09:25 PM
New Zealand

Boiling over: New gang rift unravels police mediation

16 Jun 02:21 AM

In emails to those who had contacted the motel, she said they reiterated they did not tolerate, condone or support any kind of racism by any of their staff, associates or guests.

The emails said: "We respect your comments and anger about the post made by Gavin Eggleton and would ask that you direct your frustrations at him personally as the Emerald Spa and ... are innocent parties...''

The current owners were "extremely sad and angry" to have been caught up in the controversy.

The resort is currently being run by Tiny Deane from Visions of a Helping Hand Trust to house the homeless in Rotorua.

Deane said it was a shame the motel had been wrongly linked.

"What that man Eggleton said might have been a slip of the tongue and good on him for owning up. I guess that's the important thing."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Eggleton said he had learned a valuable lesson and he did not want to go on social media ever again.

"I'm too scared to tell my wife, but my daughter rang me this morning from Whitianga and said 'Dad, what have you done?'. I just don't know how I can fix it. I'm not a racist and I love Māori people. I have lots of Māori friends, it's just not me."

Eggleton said he had been getting death threats and threatening messages. He's tried to reply to some, explaining how sorry he was and most had accepted his apology.

"I'm just an old fella who shouldn't have said what I said."

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Rotorua Daily Post

Rotorua Daily Post

Man admits having $20k of stolen goods in mysterious arson case

04 Jul 06:00 PM
Rotorua Daily Post

Farmer's harrowing hours crushed beneath tractor

04 Jul 02:00 AM
Rotorua Daily Post

Farmer's harrowing hours crushed beneath tractor

There’s more to Hawai‘i than beaches and buffets – here’s how to see it differently

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Rotorua Daily Post

Man admits having $20k of stolen goods in mysterious arson case

Man admits having $20k of stolen goods in mysterious arson case

04 Jul 06:00 PM

William Tidd tried to sell the stolen items hours after the incident.

Farmer's harrowing hours crushed beneath tractor

Farmer's harrowing hours crushed beneath tractor

04 Jul 02:00 AM
Farmer's harrowing hours crushed beneath tractor

Farmer's harrowing hours crushed beneath tractor

'Social dysfunction at its worst': Two people sentenced over Rotorua teen prostitution ring

'Social dysfunction at its worst': Two people sentenced over Rotorua teen prostitution ring

04 Jul 01:08 AM
From early mornings to easy living
sponsored

From early mornings to easy living

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Rotorua Daily Post e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Rotorua Daily Post
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP
search by queryly Advanced Search