Explainer: Chris Bishop at the Aotearoa Music Awards

Has the Minister of Transport endangered National's stranglehold on the elderly Pt. Chev hipster vote?

What's all the fuss about?

Chris Bishop, a senior minister, longtime NZ music fan and a wearer of a Fur Patrol t-shirt, attended the Aotearoa Music Awards. And as part of that, watched a performance by Stan Walker and it seems he said, to some degree of audibility, something like, "what a load of crap."

What was?

What seemed to annoy Bishop was the insertion of a political pageant into the proceedings with flags, slogans and a not-so-subtle middle finger to the government he's part of. It stopped being a celebration of music and turned into a protest.

How did others react?

Don McGlashan, sitting nearby, turned around and called him a "dickhead." Fur Patrol disowned him like a dodgy uncle at Christmas. And liberals on Twitter (now X) declared it a hate crime and demanded ritual purification.

Who is Don McGlashan?

A New Zealand musician, songwriter and composer well known on the local scene.

Some people seem outraged that most people don't know who Don McGlashan is. Is he meant to be famous?

In certain postcodes, yes.

Don McGlashan is New Zealand famous. He's a household name if your household is in Grey Lynn, includes back issues of The Listener and a random copy of Metro from 1994 in the bathroom and has RNZ on in the kitchen each and every Sunday morning as a kind of substitute for church.