As broken by The Daily Blog today and corroborated by the Prime Minister’s office:
The Prime Minister has apologised to a waitress who accused him of repeatedly pulling her hair at an Auckland cafe.
The waitress made the claims in an anonymous blog post. She is said to be by a waitress at a cafe frequented by John Key and his wife Bronagh near their Parnell mansion.
My thoughts, as I dashed them off to Twitter earlier:
(I was corrected: the manager is a woman.)
Sadly, I expect this will be like so many stories of its kind: a one- or two-day wonder in the media, breathless headlines about “what the waitress said about the PM”, and then we’ll all move on.
Some related reading on the general principles:
- Mythcommunication: It’s Not That They Don’t Understand, They Just Don’t Like The Answer – Yes Means Yes (specifically around sexual assault)
Stephanie Rodgers 
I reckon the PM is a sleazy creep. And I would ask anyone with young girls who have long hair to keep them well away from him. And other young women with long hair – stay back.
This guy has a hair fetish, and goodness knows where it will take him in the future …….
“Sleazy creep” I absolutely agree with, but not “hair fetish”. We don’t need to make assumptions about fetishists, or give armchair-diagnoses for Key’s behaviour. It’s inappropriate and gross and he’s a grown man who can be expected to keep his hands to himself.
Is it ok to rub John Keys combover for luck if we say sorry and buy him a drink?
Of course not. Because any unwanted touching of another person is wrong. And I’m not a fan of this “lol let’s joke about sexually harassing John Key!” trope that’s emerged.
Ok, good call. Thanks Stephanie. I will ask the PM first.