Six60 has hit back after Australian Sky News broadcaster Rowan Dean launched an attack on their use of te reo Māori on their tour poster.
Taking to Instagram, the band shared footage of Dean's rant on his show which talked of a "big push to be more inclusive of the Māori, the Māori language, the so-called 'iwi' at the moment".
Dean said a lot of "new language" was coming in, before showing a poster he claimed was sent to him by pop group "Sixty Sixty...or whatever".
"It's all in Māori, there's not a word of English anywhere in there."
Dean claimed the poster "excluded half of New Zealand."
Taking to Instagram, the band shared the footage, saying "Some guy had this to say about our tour poster and his free speech".
"We got called out for putting Te Reo on our poster, saying it's against free speech," the band said.
"Six60 is all about bringing people together, no matter the language."
In the clip, they use footage showcasing Māori performers and haka in front of thousands of people from past concerts.
"Free tickets to this guy if he wants to experience some positivity," the group said.
They signed off with "Much love, Sixty 60 or whatever".
Footballer Hannah Wilkinson applauded the band's stance, commenting "Way to call this out. dude needs a history lesson on Aotearoa. What an egghead."
Another said there was a more positive twist on the story, if it was being broadcast in Australia.
"It's an Aussie TV show full of backward opinions .. the fact you're in their radar is a compliment indeed! Stay awesome," they said.
Six60 is currently on their nationwide Six60 Saturdays tour, which kicked off in Wellington on Sunday October 30 after bad weather forced its cancellation.
Ahead of the tour, Six60's Matiu Walters brutally dissed AM presenter Wiliam Waiirua's attempt at singing one of the band's hit songs.
When Waiirua tried singing 'Nobody Knows' to Walters, he was interrupted with Walters singing back to him, "Nobody wants to hear you sing like that."
While it was a joke, it didn't stop AM host Patrick Gower trying his hand at crooning back too, singing, "Actually, William, I want to hear you sing like that, so go back to Six60 and have another go."
