Paul Henry: ‘Just calling it as I see it’

Retired broadcaster has no time for woke culture or regrets, writes Steven

TI could not do now, the jobs I’ve done in the past because New Zealand has become so prissy and so specific.

hirteen years after getting sacked from TVNZ for “crossing the line” in his role as Breakfast host, controversial broadcaster Paul Henry says he wouldn’t change a thing.

Henry, who is now “a retiree making and consuming gin” reflected on his broadcasting career, and the string of controversies that followed him, in a wide-ranging long-form interview on the Between Two Beers

podcast.

Henry was one of New Zealand’s most prolific broadcasters across the 2000s with roles hosting Breakfast, The Paul Henry Show, This is Your Life

and Close Up.

In 2010 Henry was forced — though officially he chose — to resign from TVNZ, following a global furore involving Indian politician Sheila Dikshit. In a segment on Breakfast, one of New Zealand’s most-watched shows, Henry laughed at her name, calling her “the dipshit woman” and suggesting that “because she’s Indian

. . . she’d be dick-in-s***”.

The saga resulted in New Zealand’s high commissioner calling India to apologise.

“Some absolute t***, working for foreign affairs in India, apologised,” Henry told Between Two Beers.

“And I know this for a fact; when they apologised, no one knew what they were talking about. So this apology, which was not solicited and they didn’t know anything about it, was offered without authorisation from New Zealand by this foreign affairs person in India — and all of a sudden it becomes an incident.

“The funny thing is I received quite a few emails, through TVNZ, from students of Sheila Dikshit, who said she actively laughed about her own name. She was a Minister of the Crown in India, but also a lecturer at university. And she credited her success in life, to her surname which people laughed about.

“I could not do now, the sort of jobs I’ve done in the past because New Zealand has become so prissy and so specific. I hate the term woke, but there’s an element of truth to it. I just wouldn’t bow down to that now. I’m just a bloke and I’m just calling it as I see it.”

In 2009 Henry made national headlines after he commented that a female guest had a moustache.

“I was led to believe she was upset about it,” Henry said. “Of course I’d never intended to upset anyone, so yes, I’m sorry someone was upset by it, but am I sorry for actually doing it? You can’t be sorry for doing it in hindsight. Because you didn’t have all that information upfront.

“In exactly that situation again, would I have done it . . . yes. Yes I would. You can avoid saying anything that may vaguely upset anyone, but then what you’re doing is avoiding saying anything at all — and you’re just becoming another script reader.

“People bring [these incidents] up all the time. But I guess they’re the highlights — some people would say the lowlights — but they’re the highlights of the career because they were hugely publicised.”

Henry revealed the extent of the backlash he faced after being sacked by TVNZ for questioning if GovernorGeneral Anand Satyanand was a “real New Zealander”.

“My sacking, I was the biggest racist in this country. That’s was how my sacking was framed. And I literally had to go and hide out. There were journalists staking out my mother’s rest home, in case I went there.

Staking out my girlfriend’s house, literally camped in my driveway. That’s how big of a racist I was, that my private life required that much scrutiny . . . but it’s part of the rich tapestry.

“I’m not a racist, but I’m not interested in saying that. There is nothing that’s happened to me that makes me even remotely interested in trying to prove that I’m not.”

Henry had been a radio broadcaster since the 1980s, but it wasn’t until 2004 that he started to become a household name. On the Breakfast couch he linked up with Alison Mau, then Kay Gregory, and most famously a young Pippa

Wetzell, and during his seven-year tenure the show developed both a committed and growing fanbase, with ratings surging year-on-year.

The famously reclusive former broadcaster now splits his time between New Zealand and Palm Springs in the United States, where he enjoys being part of a nudist community.