A TV presenter with a traditional Māori face tattoo has calmly replied to negative comments from a viewer, proudly standing up for her cultural heritage and identity.
Facial tattoos often spark debates online. Some people think tattoos should only be on the body, while others understand and appreciate their cultural importance.
Oriini Kaipara, 41, made history when she became a newsreader for New Zealand’s Newshub. She is the first primetime TV news presenter to wear a moko kauae, a special facial tattoo for Māori women.
The Māori are the indigenous people of mainland New Zealand. They see moko kauae as important symbols of their heritage and identity. These tattoos, traditionally on the lips and chin, show a woman’s family ties, leadership, and honor her lineage, status, and abilities.
Oriini Kaipara. Credit: Oriini Kaipara / Instagram.
Despite receiving praise, one viewer named David expressed his dislike for Kaipara’s moko kauae in an email to Newshub.
He wrote, “We continue to object strongly to you using a Māori newsreader with a moku [moko] which is offensive and aggressive looking. A bad look. She also bursts into the Māori language which we do not understand. Stop it now,” according to the Daily Mail.
But Kaipara didn’t let David’s negative words stop her. She bravely shared screenshots of his messages on her Instagram story and responded calmly.
“Today I had enough. I responded. I never do that. I broke my own code and hit the send button,” she wrote on her Instagram story alongside a screenshot of David’s message.
Kaipara didn’t just share screenshots of David’s email, she also responded to him. She explained that his complaint wasn’t valid because she hadn’t broken any rules for TV.
She also corrected David’s spelling mistake. He called her tattoo a “moku” instead of “moko”.
In her email back to him, Kaipara said, “I think you don’t like how I look on TV. But tattoos and people with them aren’t scary or bad. We don’t deserve to be treated badly because of them.”
She asked him to stop complaining and to try to understand better. She even joked that maybe he should go back to the 1800s if he couldn’t accept people with tattoos.
Despite David’s negative words, Kaipara says she mostly gets nice comments, and mean ones are rare.
In an interview with the New Zealand Herald, Kaipara talked about how it’s important to have more Māori people in important jobs. She said, “The fact that my existence makes some people upset shows why we need more Māori people in every job.”
Kaipara’s calm response reminds us how important it is to be proud of who you are, even when people are mean. She’s inspiring others to be proud of themselves and stand up to unfair treatment.
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Shaq speaks out after PDA photo of ‘his hands’ on influencer goes viral
The NBA Hall of Famer addressed the allegations in a manner characteristic of Shaq.
Shaq may be the man in the picture of an unidentified man holding a woman with his big hands, according to social media investigators.
Shaquille O’Neal, the NBA Hall of Famer, has since spoken out following the viral success of the endearing picture.
Maria Ozuna Teachey posted a photo of herself holding a very tall man who was hugging her from behind, but the selfie she took in the mirror left his head off.
The photo was captioned “Unapologetically us” by eachey. Guess who feet, guys? #loveyou.
Claimantly identifying themselves as the seven-foot-one-inch, 325-pound basketball icon, Shaq’s more than 200,000 strong Instagram followers instantly flooded her feed with comments.
“People on social media seem to think #Shaq has a new girlfriend,” wrote the popular social media account WorldStar when it published the image on its Instagram page.
The legendary former LA Lakers player remarked, “Nope not the kid.”
Then, in a hilarious turn of events, Shaq posted a video of himself with five women on his own Instagram account, writing, “Is this my girlfriend too? Trust me, I’ll let y’all know who my woman is. By the way, her name is Shaqirah.”
He also uploaded a video of himself lip-syncing to the iconic Training Day speech delivered by Denzel Washington, along with the message, “I’ll let you know when I fall in love.”
Although Teachey removed the post from her Instagram account a while ago, it remains on Facebook.
Since divorcing his ex-wife Shaunie Henderson, the founder and CEO of Amirah, Inc., the business behind Basketball Wives, in 2011, Shaq has been remarkably silent on the dating scene.
Together, the couple has five children: Shareef, Amirah, Me’arah, Shaqir, and Myles B. O’Neal, Shaunie’s step-son from a previous relationship. In addition, Shaq and his ex-girlfriend Arnetta Yardbourgh are the parents of Taahirah O’Neal, their daughter.
Shaq has been quiet about his current girlfriend despite a number of speculations circulating about her.
The Olympic gold champion, who once challenged Michael Phelps in a swimming competition, is unquestionably a sporting star.
The 15-time NBA All-Star finished the race in 23.14 seconds, while Phelps finished in 24.03 seconds—though, it should be noted, he was only swimming 25 yards, while the most decorated Olympian of all time had to cover 50 yards with a five-second head start—back when he was filming the competitive ABC series, Shaq Vs.
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