Kiwis tuning into the 1pm press conference on Sunday got quite the surprise when the COVID-19 Response Minister said it was hard for people to "spread" their legs in lockdown.
Chris Hipkins was discussing what is and isn't allowed during alert level four restrictions when he made the amusing slip-up.
"Look, it is a challenge in higher density areas for people to get outside and to spread their legs when they are ahh, um, ahh when they are surrounded by other people."
At the end of the conference, Hipkins acknowledged his blunder, joking "right, I shall go and stretch my legs, I'm sure you will all have fun with me later".
Kiwis instantly jumped on his comments sharing memes, TikToks and tweets about the unfortunate phrase. In fact, they loved it so much #spreadyourlegs is trending on Twitter.
Here's a collection of the best social media reactions:
He even got a shout out from New Zealand's first man Clarke Gayford.
Hipkins later addressed the mishap in a post on his Facebook page.
"That moment when you realise that what you had intended to say and what you had actually just said weren’t the same..! At least I’ve given you all something to laugh about," he joked.
