Editorial: Destiny leader Brian Tamaki’s weather eye for an opportunity, Cyclone Gabrielle

Brian Tamaki told his followers he didn't watch pornography but described how he search for "Porn in New Zealand". Screenshot / Destiny Church via YouTube

EDITORIAL:

A popular and derisory trope in social media circles for those who decide to disregard expert advice is “did my own research”.

This week it was reported that New Zealand’s self-styled “Apostle” Brian Tamaki had told his followers that Cyclone Gabrielle was brought to Aotearoa by porn, abortion and gay rights.

Just days after the storm caused widespread and tragic devastation, Tamaki delivered a sermon on the topic and zeroed in on Pornhub statistics showing that Gisborne and Hastings have the “highest number of porn watchers in the country”.

Brian Tamaki might be better off setting his computer to "safe search". Photo / 123rf, File

After word of the sermon leaked out, comments flowed about just how Tamaki had come to his conclusions on the particular predilections of the cyclone victims. A more likely explanation is that God’s right-hand guy was informed by an online Herald article from July 2019.

However, he did concede to his congregation that he’d “hopped on” to “see the perversion” for himself.

Tamaki rambled about similar fantasies in 2016 when he blamed the Kaikōura earthquake that year and the devastating 2011 Christchurch earthquake on “gays, sinners, and murderers”.

Blaming extreme weather events on extreme online content is simply cynical opportunism as well as an insult to the courageous people of Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay.

Tamaki deserves every bit of ridicule that comes his way. He would be better advised to leave weather phenomena explanations to meteorologists and setting his computer to “safe search”.

You can help the good people who are getting over Cyclone Gabrielle by putting a dollar or two in the collection plate via www.redcross.org.nz