Canberra: An Australia TV interview with New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in which she was called “attractive” has been widely criticised as “creepy” and inappropriate, a media report said on Monday.
In an interview on current affairs show 60 Minutes, veteran reporter Charles Wooley said he was “smote” by Ardern, reports the BBC.
The interview was a profile of Ardern, who at 37 became New Zealand’s youngest Prime Minister in over a century in October 2017.
“I’ve met a lot of prime ministers in my time, but none so young and not so many so smart, and never one so attractive,” said Wooley in his opening.
He also focused much of the interview on Ardern’s pregnancy.
“One really important political question that I want to ask you, and that is what exactly is the date that the baby’s due?” he asked Ardern and her partner, Clarke Gayford.
“It’s interesting how much people have been counting back to the conception date,” he then added.
Ardern responded by saying the baby was conceived when the “election was over”, but that they did not “need to get into those details”.
Ardern announced her pregnancy in January. It will make her the second elected world leader to give birth while in office. She will be taking six weeks of maternity leave before going back to work.
The interview was slammed by many on social media, with some calling it “creepy”, reports the BBC.
“The 60 Minutes Jacinda Adern puff piece is just ick. Charles Wooley has already called her the most attractive PM he’s ever met and asked about when she had sex to fall pregnant,” a Twitter user posted.
Another user said: “Why did 60 Minutes send its creepiest interviewer to do its segment on Jacinda Ardern? Eww!”
