Green Party MP Benjamin Doyle admits political naivety in refusing to delete social media posts
Green Party MP Benjamin Doyle has returned to Parliament saying their social media posts never had a sexual meaning and they didn’t believe they had done anything wrong.
However, Doyle, who uses they/them pronouns, recognised they were “politically naive” in not deleting their private Instagram account ahead of entering Parliament last year, something the Green Party advised them to do. However, they had not expected it would lead to “baseless, personal, and violent” attacks.
Doyle said they had fielded “a significant number of threats to my life and the safety of my child and family”. They were away from Parliament last week amid the heightened attention and have spoken with police about the threats.
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Listen: Last week on The Front Page, Victoria University of Wellington politics professor Lara Greaves joined to discuss the political fallout from Doyle's posts.
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The livestream has now ended.
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Doyle said they had never used the term "bussy" in a sexual context, saying it was a nickname or drag persona.
"I've always meant it as a reference to myself."
Doyle said they had received "hundreds" of threats but couldn't provide a specific number.
Doyle: Politics a 'very hostile environment'
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Doyle described politics as a "very hostile environment" but said they didn't want to stop portraying themself as an authentic politician.
Doyle said they didn't question their political judgment in not deleting the posts, saying they could never have predicted the "conspiracies" that were prompted by their posts.
Doyle said they hadn't decided whether they would progress any kind of legal action against people who spread what they considered to be "conspiracies".
"The words I used ... were not sexual words."
Doyle said the use of bussy galore was in reference to a James Bond novel.
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Parliamentary Security had been reviewing all threats against Doyle, then engaging when necessary with police.
Doyle said they preferred to have a face-to-face conversation with Winston Peters about his public comments about Doyle, saying it wasn't useful to have that debate through the media.
Doyle: I don't consider resigning from politics
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Asked why Doyle didn't take the party's advice, they said they came to Parliament to be authentic and they didn't believe they had to disappear themselves. The party leadership advised Doyle to delete the post due to the risk of homophobia and transphobia.
Doyle was advised of this while a candidate for the party.
They said they didn't consider resigning from politics.
"If I were to step down, our community would lose a voice."
Doyle argued many friend groups and communities used nickname language, citing a similar example of Fred Dagg, saying the use of bussy galore was a persona for them.
'I don't represent every rainbow person'
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In the use of the spiral emoji and its reported relation to child sex offending, Doyle said they were not aware of the emoji being associated with that.
"I was not aware of that conspiracy," Doyle said, saying it was used in relation to koru symbolism.
"I don't represent every rainbow person."
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Taking questions from journalists, Doyle said their personal social media account was made in reference to themself, and shouldn't have been taken out of context.
Doyle defended the post that involved their child, saying it's "bussy galore" caption applied to all the photos in the post and is about their attitude to life.
"It's just about me," Doyle said, arguing it wasn't used explicitly.
Doyle wouldn't accept the explicit origins of the word "bussy" were not applicable to their post.
"I can see how people might get that impression."
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Taking questions from journalists, Doyle said they hadn't done anything wrong. "No, I don't."
Doyle: I didn't deserve the barrage of abuse
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”I can admit that I was politically naive, and we have paid a huge price for this naivety. None of this means I deserved the barrage of abuse and vitriol I have experienced”, says Benjamin Doyle.
The MP says they expected “prejudice and homophobia” when they entered Parliament, as well as scrutiny as is appropriate towards those with the “privilege of this position”.
”But I could never imagine or prepare myself to be attacked in such a baseless, personal, and violent way. That my life and that of my child would be threatened.
”That poisonous transphobic hate and imported culture wars would be levelled against me and my community - not just by extremists online, but by individuals who hold the highest level of authority in this institution.”
Doyle admits political naivety over social media posts
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Green Party MP Benjamin Doyle is taking aim at the “poisonous transphobic hate” they have faced over social media posts and admit they were politically naive in not deleting them when told by the party to do so.
However, it appears questions over Doyle’s future have been answered as the MP says they “refuse to be disappeared by hate”.
Doyle, who goes by they/them pronouns, has today revealed the Green Party advised them to delete their private Instagram page before they came to office, but they “chose not to”.
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Benjamin Doyle is about to address media.
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Some of the “hundreds” of threats “have been so graphic and disturbing that I had been advised not to leave my house, or appear in public, due to real concerns for my security”, Doyle told reporters.
“These attacks I’ve faced have been baseless and cruel. Queer people are not a danger to children. This is an outdated and homophobic lie.”
Among several posts of Doyle’s that received scrutiny was an image of them and their child contained within an Instagram carousel of various images of a family event.
That carousel was captioned with the phrase “bussy galore”. Bussy is often understood as a portmanteau of “boy” and “pussy” and slang used by some to refer to a male’s anus. The account’s name is “biblebeltbussy”.
Doyle said “bussy” was an “in-joke” and “nickname” given to them by friends.
“Bussy is a reference to me. Bussy is a wordplay of the character from the James Bond novel, Goldfinger, Pussy Galore,” Doyle said. “Plainly said, it is just about me. It is a reference to myself and no one else.”
The MP said they had a large community of followers on that Instagram account who understood that term referred to them.
“Many cultures and people and communities and friends use nicknames or tongue-in-cheek references to each other in closed group environments and circles of friends,” they said.
Asked by the Herald if they recognised the term “bussy” had sexual connotations to a lot of people, Doyle responded that every time they had used it “has been a reference to me and my nickname”.
In their opening remarks, Doyle said that when they stood for Parliament, they wanted to bring their “full self” and represent their communities “in the most authentic way possible”.
“This is why when I was advised by the party to delete the page before coming to Parliament, I chose not to. I can admit that I was politically naive, and we have paid a huge price for this naivety,” they said.
Doyle said they “could never have predicted or foreseen the level of violent hate that I have been receiving because of the manipulation and taking of images of my child”.
They refused to be “disappeared by hate” and told the Herald at no point did they consider resigning from Parliament.
“This is really important. This fight we are having right now, if I were to sit down and move away from this space, our community would lose a voice, and we don’t have much representation in here.”
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters has been among those raising questions about the social media posts. While the Green Party has said Peters was “fanning the flames” of hate in doing so, Peters has maintained it is right to scrutinise the appropriateness of MPs’ actions.
After Doyle’s press conference today, Peters said the MP and their political party were “hiding behind the rainbow community as an excuse” and noted that many in the community had “spoken out” against the posts.
“Be assured we are not going to let this flimsy excuse of ‘victimhood’ succeed,” Peters added.
In their remarks, Doyle said they recognised “bussy” was “not a term all rainbow people use or like”, but stressed it was “commonly understood and appreciated by my friends and community”.
Jamie Ensor is a political reporter in the NZ Herald Press Gallery team based at Parliament. He was previously a TV reporter and digital producer in the Newshub press gallery office.