A TV presenter with a traditional Māori face tattoo has calmly replied to negative comments from a viewer, proudly standing up for her cultural heritage and identity.
Facial tattoos often spark debates online. Some people think tattoos should only be on the body, while others understand and appreciate their cultural importance.
Oriini Kaipara, 41, made history when she became a newsreader for New Zealand’s Newshub. She is the first primetime TV news presenter to wear a moko kauae, a special facial tattoo for Māori women.
The Māori are the indigenous people of mainland New Zealand. They see moko kauae as important symbols of their heritage and identity. These tattoos, traditionally on the lips and chin, show a woman’s family ties, leadership, and honor her lineage, status, and abilities.
Oriini Kaipara. Credit: Oriini Kaipara / Instagram.
Despite receiving praise, one viewer named David expressed his dislike for Kaipara’s moko kauae in an email to Newshub.
He wrote, “We continue to object strongly to you using a Māori newsreader with a moku [moko] which is offensive and aggressive looking. A bad look. She also bursts into the Māori language which we do not understand. Stop it now,” according to the Daily Mail.
But Kaipara didn’t let David’s negative words stop her. She bravely shared screenshots of his messages on her Instagram story and responded calmly.
“Today I had enough. I responded. I never do that. I broke my own code and hit the send button,” she wrote on her Instagram story alongside a screenshot of David’s message.
Kaipara didn’t just share screenshots of David’s email, she also responded to him. She explained that his complaint wasn’t valid because she hadn’t broken any rules for TV.
She also corrected David’s spelling mistake. He called her tattoo a “moku” instead of “moko”.
In her email back to him, Kaipara said, “I think you don’t like how I look on TV. But tattoos and people with them aren’t scary or bad. We don’t deserve to be treated badly because of them.”
She asked him to stop complaining and to try to understand better. She even joked that maybe he should go back to the 1800s if he couldn’t accept people with tattoos.
Despite David’s negative words, Kaipara says she mostly gets nice comments, and mean ones are rare.
In an interview with the New Zealand Herald, Kaipara talked about how it’s important to have more Māori people in important jobs. She said, “The fact that my existence makes some people upset shows why we need more Māori people in every job.”
Kaipara’s calm response reminds us how important it is to be proud of who you are, even when people are mean. She’s inspiring others to be proud of themselves and stand up to unfair treatment.
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“You won’t be able to hold back tears after reading this… What do we know about Michael Schumacher’s health 10 years after his accident?”
December 29th marked the tenth anniversary of Michael Schumacher’s tragic skiing accident.
The seven-time Formula 1 world champion is still suffering from severe after-effects that leave him unable to communicate and move.
Exactly ten years ago, on December 29th 2013, the accident occurred when Schumacher took a violent fall while skiing during his family vacation in Méribel in Savoie, shortly after retiring from Formula 1 racing.
His head hit a rock and his helmet shattered under the force of the impact.
When rescuers arrived, Schumacher, also known as “The Red Baron,” was stunned but conscious.
He was immediately taken to hospital, where he remained in a coma for several months.
On the evening of the same day, Grenoble University Hospital announced that the former champion had “suffered severe head trauma with coma upon arrival, requiring immediate neurosurgical intervention.”
Schumacher also suffered a brain hemorrhage, and his life prognosis was at risk.
When he woke up six months later, nothing was the same.
To this day, it is difficult to know the state of Michael Schumacher’s health, as his family is extremely discreet on the subject.
They keep him away from the media and do not reveal any information about him.
The Formula 1 world champion is now unable to walk or stand, and it is impossible for him to communicate with those around him.
Michael Schumacher is cared for 24 hours a day by a team of about fifteen doctors, nurses and physiotherapists.
A whole decade has passed since the accident involving Michael Schumacher, which occurred while skiing in the resort of Méribel in the French Alps.
Since September 2014, he has been living in a medical suite in his family villa in Gland, Switzerland.
“He is a prisoner of his own body,” said Gaëtan Vigneron, an F1 commentator for 30 years and an expert on the racing scene.
Michael’s younger brother Ralf revealed information to some local media, which was picked up by the Daily Mail: “I miss the Michael of old.
Life can be so unfair sometimes. Michael has been very lucky all his life.
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