World

New Zealand PM John Key under fire for participating in 'prison rape' radio joke

December 17, 2015 4:30 pm

New Zealand Prime Minister John Key has been criticized for participating in a radio show stunt in which the hosts appeared to make light of prison rape.

During an appearance on New Zealand radio station The Rock on Wednesday, Key played along with a request from the radio hosts to get inside a cage in the studio.

Once in the cage, host Tom Furniss dropped a bar of soap and asked Key to pick it up, as those present howled in laughter.

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Key complied, and Furniss told him: “You’ve got a pretty little mouth, Prime Minister.”

“Dropping the soap” is a reference to prison rape. And Furniss’ line references one in the film “Deliverance,” in which a man is raped by two other men.