The Mayor of Putaruru was today forced to explain comments she made saying that the makers of controversial Facebook page S*** Towns of New Zealand "should be shot" were actually made in the "same satirical vein" as the site itself.
Mayor Jenny Shattock clarified her comments, accused by some of inciting violence, in a statement explaining her own comments were tongue-in-cheek.
"I by no means condone violence, my comments have been taken literally and that is unfortunate," Mayor Shattock said.
"I am incredibly passionate and proud of my community and would warmly invite the creator of this page to spend some quality time in the South Waikato, to experience real life rather than from behind a computer screen."
Mayor Shattock's comments came in response to Putaruru being ranked as the fourth s******* town in the country on the page.
According to the openly satirical Facbook page, Putaruru "only exists to make Tokoroa fell better about themselves".
And despite her own satirical barb, a statement from Mayor Shattock's office was keen to elaborate on the virtues of Putaruru, saying they put "no weight" in the comments on the page.
"Putaruru, Tokoroa and indeed all South Waikato towns are really great towns to live in," the statement said.
"Indeed we wouldn't have a shortage of houses from all the people moving here if it wasn't a great place to live."
The site itself is quite open out their own goals: "Our intent is to use offensive humour to highlight the various foibles and eccentricities of towns scattered around Aotearoa – if we s*** on your town it’s only because we care!"
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