US ambassador heckled after ‘shushing’ crowd
A priest shouted ‘‘f... Trump’’ at a Peace Corps celebration party in Samoa after being rudely ‘‘shushed’’ by United States Ambassador Scott Brown, an attendee claims.
The clash is alleged to have occurred at the July event that sparked a State Department investigation, to which Brown referred as a ‘‘cultural misunderstanding’’ in a Stuff interview on Wednesday.
At the Peace Corps’ 50th anniversary celebrations, the reverend was thanked by people who left the party feeling embarrassed at a ‘‘belligerent American who is now ambassador’’ and meant to ‘‘build trust’’, said the attendee, who did not wish to be named.
‘‘When he was giving a speech he rudely shushed everyone … [it] was a cocktail party so it was supposed to be a fun event, and there were a lot of heads of state at the party,’’ she said.
‘‘People were appalled, it felt like he was channelling [US President Donald] Trump.’’
The source acknowledged there was tension because a lot of the Americans who came over with the Peace Corps were Democrats, and Brown was one of the first ambassadors to be appointed by the Republican president after his inauguration in January.
Brown had not done anything to ‘‘release the tension’’, she said.
The ambassador was the subject of an an official administrative inquiry into his conduct at the Peace Corps event in Apia, Samoa, in July.
US officials said Brown had been counselled on standards of conduct for government employees after two complaints that originally came from two female Peace corps volunteers.
The source described Brown as ‘‘arrogant, fake, and put off a lot of people’’.
She felt he spoke to the Samoan people with total contempt, ’’like we were a quaint little country that didn’t know any better’’.
‘‘In his apology, he called the people outside the event dirty and grungy - I mean who says that?’’
The source alleged Brown was ‘‘quite drunk’’ at the cocktail party, and could tell ‘‘from the way he acts he gets a lot of attention from women’’.
‘‘He doesn’t hide where his eyes are looking, he was really obvious about that.’’
Speaking to Stuff this week, Brown confirmed there had been an administrative inquiry into his behaviour at the event and said he had chosen to front the issue because of the rumour and innuendo that had been circulating.
He blamed ‘‘cultural misunderstandings’’ for people taking offence, which he blamed on comments he made about some of the guests looking beautiful, and a reference to one woman being able to make hundreds of dollars in the hospitality industry in the US.
The source said Brown’s claim he didn’t know his comments would be offensive because of ‘‘cultural differences’’ didn’t make sense because the complainant was an American woman.
Questioned about the latest allegations, a spokeswoman for the US Embassy said Ambassador Brown and his wife Gail had nothing to add to the comments they made in the Stuff interview they did on Wednesday.
‘‘The State Department takes allegations of misconduct seriously and we investigate them thoroughly,’’ she said.