US Ambassador to New Zealand Scott Brown has been told to brush up on his diplomacy and be more culturally aware after gaffes at a reception in Samoa led to an inquiry into his conduct.
Brown, named as Washington’s man in Wellington and envoy to Samoa in one of US President Donald Trump’s earliest diplomatic appointments, confirmed the probe following comments made at a Peace Corps event in Samoa in July.
The 58-year-old this week told New Zealand media that he had called guests “beautiful” and suggested to one waitress she could “make hundreds of dollars” working in the service industry in the US.
While he acknowledged there might have been cultural misunderstandings, he also believed there was an element of “political motivation” behind the complaint.
“At this event there were a lot of people that didn’t like [Trump]. Sadly, it’s politics and it is what it is,” he said.
Brown said he was revealing what happened because of mounting “innuendo and rumor” about a US Department of State investigation into his behavior.
He said an official complaint had been made about his remarks and an “administrative inquiry” concluded he should be more culturally aware.
Brown commented on the appearance of guests because when he and his wife, Gail, saw people before the event, “they were all like dirty and grungy... We walked in and everyone was dressed to the nines,” Brown said. “They all looked great, Gail looked great, you know I was dressed up and Gail and I both walked in and said: ‘You guys are beautiful, you look really handsome sir, you guys are great.’ And apparently somebody took offense to that.”
He also told some staff they would do well working in the US.
“Absolutely, told people they could make great waitresses,” he said. “And as a result of that I was told that: ‘You know, listen you’re not Scott Brown from Ryan, New Hampshire anymore, you’re an ambassador and you have to be culturally aware of different cultures and different sensitivities,’ and I’m always welcoming that kind of advice.”
Brown was once named “America’s sexiest man,” worked as a male model, served as the Republican senator from Massachusetts and was a colonel in the US Army National Guard.
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