Kiwi entertainer ‘kicked’ child bully
More FM radio host Gary McCormick believes parents should step in and deal with their child’s schoolyard bully, rather than leaving the matter to the school.
During his breakfast segment on More FM earlier this week, McCormick said that when his two eldest daughters were being bullied at school, he confronted their bully. ‘‘My eldest daughters went to a school where some young brat had this fetish for kicking girls in the legs,’’ McCormick said.
‘‘And [he] went round doing it until I went down there and kicked him in the backside and said if he ever did it again then I would be back.
‘‘The key thing about that whole incident was he never kicked another girl in the legs again. So, it worked.’’
McCormick has two adult daughters, and twin daughters, now 9 years old. He was referring to his adult daughters during his spiel.
A spokesperson from More FM said McCormick was using a figurative term of speech and didn’t kick the bully. ‘‘Neither MediaWorks nor Gary condone violence of any kind,’’ they said in a written response.
The veteran radio host was speaking in relation to a magazine columnist who said she approached her daughter’s school to inform them she would involve the police if bullying of her daughter continued.
McCormick said on air he believed parents should take matters into their own hands, rather than leave it to the schools. ‘‘My view is, if my kids were attacked and bullied by, I’m not talking a one-off incident, but if there was a bullying pattern, and my children were the victim of it, I would go down to the school and I would not be leaving till that child was brought to me and, if necessary, I would call the cops. I would not be passing the responsibility on to the school. I, as the parent, have my job to protect my children and that takes precedence over any other system that’s put in place.’’
He went on to say that he would not leave the school until he had conveyed to the bully that there would be severe consequences if they chose to keep bullying.
Listeners called in with support for McCormick, saying their children had experienced bullying.
More FM producer Chris Bond (Bondy) said he didn’t feel that approaching the child directly was the right thing to do but McCormick pushed on. ‘‘The thing about bullies is they don’t recognise anything until a larger power than themselves acquaints them with the reality,’’ McCormick said.
‘‘If it’s my kid and some other kid bullies my kid, I’m going to stand there and look at that bully and squat down on the ground and eyeball them and say, something will come back and bite you, if you continue to do this.’’
Bond said McCormick’s approach was an example of ‘‘intimidation and bullying’’.