Journalist calls out councillor for texting 'grossly inappropriate' sexual joke about her surname
A journalist has called out a local councillor for sending her a "grossly inappropriate and offensive" sexual joke about her surname.
New Zealand journalist Angela Cuming said she received two photos from Hamilton City Councillor Mark Bunting, the same day he axed the building of new playgrounds for the next decade.
The image showed two electronic road signs reading, "Jesus is cuming" and "open your mouth".
On Tuesday afternoon, Councillor Bunting admitted he "was wrong" in thinking she would find the photos funny and apologised.
"I sent it to you because it had your last name in it and I thought you'd find it funny," he wrote in a message to Ms Cuming she later shared on Twitter.
"I thought we were friends and I was just being that - I'm sorry. Ok?"
Councillor Bunting will face a disciplinary hearing on Friday.
On Wednesday, the councillor shared a statement to his Facebook page saying he "apologised unreservedly" and would not make any other comment in the lead-up to the hearing.
"Just a quick note to say that there are two sides to every story and that I won’t be making any other comment about the Ms Cuming story at this time," he said.
"I apologised unreservedly at the time I realised she’d taken offence at the Newshub video I forwarded her, have apologised as many times I possibly can and done everything I can to make it right."
Ms Cuming said the photos had her in "tears" and admitted she broke down in the kitchen, ABC News reported.
"I was hurt, humiliated and a little bit angry as well and overwhelmingly sad that it's 2017 and this is still what we have to deal with," she said.
"I've heard all the jokes about my name, and all the jokes have been made by men and it's really cruel."
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