Mike King’s mental health charity, I Am Hope, declined support from the Ironfist Charity Fight Night boxing event held in Hamilton on Saturday night because a beer with the tagline “not for pussies” was being co-promoted alongside the event.
According to Pursuit of Hoppiness‘ Michael Donaldson, the beer – called Swordfish Mojo – was created by Matt Watson, the star of the ITM Fishing Show and the Ultimate Fishing YouTube channel.
The tagline “not for pussies” appears on the front of the can.
Mike King told Pursuit of Hoppiness: “People want to raise money for us, which is good, but I put it to our board chair and our counselling lead, and while they both understand it’s a joke, it doesn’t align with our core values.”
“We made a mistake and I accept full responsibility for the oversight, so we won’t be the recipient of the funds.
“I know it’s only a beer label… But we’re encouraging kids not to use this type of language, so it would be hypocrisy to be involved in this.”
Watson told Michael Donaldson he accepts there is criticism of the tagline, which he expected. He said having spoken to King, he understood I Am Hope’s decision.
However, Watson told the NZ Herald that they have had no complaints about the “tongue-in-cheek” tagline, despite it being seen millions of times on their social media pages over several months.
In May, the government announced that King’s Gumboot Friday campaign – part of the I Am Hope charity – would receive $6 million of taxpayer money a year for the next four years to fund counselling sessions for young New Zealanders.
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