Auckland mayoral hopeful Wayne Brown is appalled at rival Leo Molloy's judgement, saying the city needs a leader not a comedian. Photo / Dean Purcell
Auckland mayoral hopeful Wayne Brown is appalled at rival Leo Molloy's judgement, saying the city needs a leader not a comedian. Photo / Dean Purcell
Mayoral candidate Wayne Brown says "disgusting" topics raised by rival Leo Molloy in his television appearance has signalled to voters he has no judgment and is ill-equipped to be Auckland's next mayor.
Molloy hit out at people he deemed "woke" and claimed Auckland had been hampered by a succession of "soft-****" mayors during an expletive-laden interview on TV3's New Zealand Today, a comedy current affairs show hosted by Guy Williams.
Wayne Brown told Newstalk ZB's Simon Barnett that Molloy should stand down because his behaviour and language was inappropriate and the city had already had a mayor who had embarrassed the city, referring to Len Brown and his well-publicised affair with junior staffer Bevan Chuang.
"If your judgment is such that you'll go and do that sort of stuff publicly then you've got no judgment.
"We've already had one mayor who's embarrassed Auckland with his behaviour, we don't need another one."
Brown said while he wasn't a prude there was a time and place for everything and the television appearance showed a lack of judgment.
"Penises and erections, it's disgusting. It's got no place at all. In a council the mayor has to lead a group of sometimes disparate people and so you have to have some ability to lead people and lead a conversation without losing your rag. You can't just get up and go and punch someone because they voted against your proposal. It's completely unacceptable.
Leo Molloy at a Meet the Mayoral Candidates evening in Takapuna. Photo / Dean Purcell
"If they're wanting to have someone who's a comedian, have a comedian, but I think people pay a lot of rates in order to receive good value for it.
"Just at the moment he's not trying to be a comedian, he's trying to be a mayor.
"There are opportunities for media when you're doing this sort of stuff and there are some that you just don't take.
"It's just a lack of judgment, that's what I'm saying".
Comedian and TV host Guy Williams was roasted by Leo Molloy in his satirical current affairs show. Photo / Supplied
A short time later, Molloy appeared on Barnett's show alongside Tyler Adams, brushing off his comments as banter on a comedy show.
He denied making disparaging comments about Brown: "I quite like the old fella. When he doesn't bring his notes he loses his way a bit and I help him find his way again."
"Efeso, with the support of the Labour Party ad Green Party, cannot compete with me on a toe-to-toe basis. The others are irrelevant. They are just chaff blowing in the wind.
"Old Brownie is trying to get a bit of oxygen today. He has not had any publicity for a while, the old fella," Molloy said.
When Tyler asked Molloy why he was taking the tone down and fighting in the gutter when he had pledged to solve problems in the city, Molloy said "that's a bizarre notion".
"I stood up for small business single-handed during lockdown. I became a spokesperson for the CBD and small business."
Earlier this morning Molloy released a statement saying Brown "clearly has no sense of humour and hasn't read the description of the show".
"It reads, 'New Zealand Today is a satirical news and entertainment show hosted by Guy Williams in New Zealand currently airing on Three'," Molloy said.
"I've known Guy's father for more 40 years. The show was theatrical, I played up as instructed, all in good humour. Guy remains a friend and in fact visited our campaign HQ last week.
"I would highly recommend Wayne Brown stop focusing on comedy shows and start focusing on the issues that matter to Aucklanders."
Brown countered, saying he was entirely focused on fixing Auckland's infrastructure, something he knew about as an engineer.
"I am a person who gets things done rather than talking about them. So people have a choice.
"I'm the guy the politicians call when things go wrong. When the power went off for six weeks in Auckland they didn't mind where I was from, they found me to put it back on again."
He said there were far more important issues to discuss, including the delays and cost-overruns to the City Rail Link, to focus on rather than the inappropriate behaviour of candidates.
Fellow mayoral candidate Efeso Collins did not wish to comment about Molloy's interview when approached by the Herald.
