Jeremy Clarkson, Lewis Hamilton and Taylor Swift weren't so happy about their stay in New Zealand. Photo / AP, iStock
Jeremy Clarkson, Lewis Hamilton and Taylor Swift weren't so happy about their stay in New Zealand. Photo / AP, iStock
Following a disgruntled Lewis Hamilton saying he was treated like dirt by Auckland's Sky City, we remember some of the notorious names who left New Zealand with a bitter taste in their mouths.
Taylor Swift
After rumours spread on Twitter that Taylor Swift was heading to New Zealand near the end of last year, the hunt was on for the Blank Space star. All the media attention irked Swift, forcing her to hide under towels while shooting the music video to her single Out Of The Woods in locations around the country. Swift also took some time here to have a break before resuming tour dates in Australia. The star later revealed to Radio 1 host Zane Lowe - before her official interview started: "We had a helicopter flying above our video set in New Zealand for like 45 minutes just circling around with a long lens. We're like, 'What do you think is happening here?'"
Singer Taylor Swift. Photo / AP
She continued her bitter rant saying, "Okay, they get a shot of the video set ... it's not going to ruin the surprise of the video [but] at that point you're like, 'I resent being chased, so now I'm going to run from you'. Like, that's the dichotomy of it."
Back in 1965, either Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards or singer Mick Jagger famously described Invercargill as "the arsehole of the world" after the band played at the Civic Theatre. Years later, in 2009, the local council discovered a further crime against its fine city, a piece of graffiti in the band room at the theatre that simply read "Mick Jagger 65".
The Rolling Stones. Photo / Michael Craig
Clearly not a fan of the southern end of the country, Richards later hit out against Dunedin in his autobiography Life, describing the city as a "black hole".
"I don't think you could find anything more depressing anywhere," he wrote. "Dunedin made Aberdeen seem like Las Vegas."
Jeremy Clarkson
In December last year former Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson went on a Twitter rant after visiting New Zealand. "My advice to anyone wishing to visit Waiheke Island is: don't." the Brit wrote to his followers on the social media site. Clarkson was said to have made some strange demands during his stay on Waiheke Island including having cigarettes helicoptered to him from Auckland, a Monopoly board game and gravy mix. The TV personality responded by stating on Twitter: "To be clear, I've also never demanded a game of monopoly or a Range Rover so I could look at it.
Former Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson. Photo / NZH
"I did ask the helicopter pilot if he'd get me a game of Risk. Much better than Monopoly. He offered to get gravy as well. I declined."
The story seems to be coming from a Kiwi who's promoting his business by making stuff up about people who use it.
If you thought the Stones were wild, think again. The Pretty Things' 1965 tour was so wild that Parliament presented the band with a life-time ban, curtains were set alight and youth were corrupted, after all.
Guitarist Dick Taylor remembered New Zealand as being "a bit like going back in England 20 years before the 60s". The infamous tour was even documented in a book called Don't Bring Me Down Under.
"The whole trip for me was like waking up in a Dali painting with no exit to reality. If I was ever to have a nervous breakdown it would have been there," Taylor wrote in the book's foreword.
But it seems the band made peace with our country, defying the life-time ban to return for a slightly less eventful concert in 2012.
John Cleese
English comedian John Cleese angered the mayor of Palmy in 2006 when he described the city as "the suicide capital of New Zealand" on his website.
"If you wish to kill yourself but lack the courage to, I think a visit to Palmerston North will do the trick," he elaborated.
Legendary British comic John Cleese. Photo / AP
The audience laughed at all the wrong places and Cleese said he had a thoroughly miserable time.
"The weather was grotty, the theatre was a nasty shape and the audience was very strange to play to."
Palmerston North's mayor Heather Tanguay hit back at the funnyman, suggesting his medical problems were to blame for his attitude.
Tyler, the Creator
The rap group Odd Future first visited New Zealand in 2012, where they were set to play the Big Day Out. However, their performance was axed following complaints their lyrics were homophobic and encouraged "bullying and violence". The group were subsequently banned from entering the country again last year, after being determined a threat to public order.
Tyler, The Creator.
Frontman Tyler, the Creator, took to Twitter to rant against the decision.
"OF IS BANNED FROM NEW ZEALAND, AGAIN. THEY SAID WE WERE 'TERRORIST THREATS AND BAD FOR THE SOCIETY' OR WHATEVER. SICK. THEY ARE ANTI GOLF," he tweeted.
Odd Future were later blocked from entering Australia as well.
Graeme Smith
In 2004, Graeme Smith, the then-captain of the South African cricket squad, angered Hamilton by referring to it as a "hillbilly city" in a newspaper column, although he claimed it wasn't an insult.
"The spectators appear marginally more rough and ready than at other venues and they clearly pride themselves on their turn of phrase," he wrote.
Graeme Smith. Photo / Paul Taylor
"One of our senior players was told that his mother was his brother, which none of us understood, but all recognised as an insult.
"When our man replied that the bearded man's mother was probably a sheep, he replied: 'Yeah and bloody proud of it'."
Even Invercargill mayor Tim Shadbolt jumped to defend Hamilton.
"It's a serious issue for small-town New Zealand, the sort of thing that could result in an extra star from the tourism board, and the basis for one of those catch-by slogans like, 'Hamilton, there's nothing wrong with it'," he said.
Chris Latham
Two years later, the Queensland Reds captain Chris Latham joined the chorus of complaints against Hamilton, blaming boredom for his team's loss against the Chiefs.
Chris Latham. Photo / NZPA
"If we were here in sunny Brisbane, there's a lot of things to do and a lot of places to go and get out and get motivated and get moving," he said.
It certainly wasn't a bright time in Hamilton's history - just a week before Latham's comments, a South African rugby columnist said Hamilton was the most hated tour destination for the Springboks.
Prince Charles
His thoughts were contained in a public letter, but it seems it wasn't all smiles and waves on the royal tour of 1981, where Prince Charles got really, really sick of New Zealanders making fun of him for falling off a horse in Australia.
"Kindless, fallacious remarks and references about falling off horses are beginning to get through to me," he wrote in a letter to a close friend which has since been sold at auction.
Prince Charles. Photo / Evan Barnes
"It seems as though the main thing they know about me out here! It all increases my determination to make them laugh out the other side of their faces one day!" he continued.
The disgruntled Prince of Wales went on to take a swipe at the young New Zealanders who came out to greet him.
"If one more NZ child asks me what it's like to be a prince I shall go demented," he wrote.
