The Hawera Mt View Lions Club’s blackface parade float was awarded second place and a $300 prize by judges, although that was later stripped.
Hawera A&P show organisers have promised to review their vetting procedures following widespread outrage at the choice of blackface in Friday’s parade.
South Taranaki mayor Ross Dunlop said yesterday that there had been a review of results and "it would have been inappropriate" for the Lions Club to retain a placing, Stuff reported .
READ MORE: 'Seriously, we're in 2018' - shock over Lions club's blackface parade float
Egmont A&P Association’s Richard Brewer apologised and confirmed the group would not be receiving any of the prizemoney.
"We sincerely apologise for the upset caused by the Hāwera Mount View Lions' float in our parade," he told Stuff via email.
The president of the Hawera Mt View Lions Club apologised on Saturday after initially defended its float that participated in Friday’s parade.
“Let’s not be too precious or PC,” the club initially said on Facebook, before deleting the post.
But since then, the club has issued a statement with an apology and an admission that they “got this wrong”.
"We were naive. We are really disappointed in ourselves,” club officials said in the press release. "…We have learnt a big lesson from this and we will be more aware of these sorts of things going forward.
“Once again, our sincerest apology. We would be happy to meet with the iwi to discuss protocol.”
New Plymouth Mayor Andrew Judd told Radio New Zealand prior to the statement that he was disgusted nobody “had the presence of mind” to speak up about something that was “wrong on so many levels”.
The group’s nonchalant initial response only doubled down on the terrible situation, he said.
“Frankly, it just shows middle-class white privilege,” he said. “We view ourselves as some utopian country on race-relations whereas we’re actually just polite racists.”
SHARE ME