An online craft beer retailer who dropped Eagle Brewing products after its owner went on a racist Facebook rant has decided to put the company's beer back up for sale - but donate all the profits to charity.
Eagle Brewing founder David Gaughan has come under fire after lashing out against Māori in a comment on a public Facebook post.
His now-deleted comment accusing Māori of being "NZ's biggest problem" was posted under a 1 News story about a firearms incident near a Napier primary school.
In a screenshot of the comment posted to social media, Gaughan can be seen describing Māori as the "scourge of New Zealand" and arguing "the quicker we put them in prison the better".
The comment was labelled "disgusting" by social media users and has resulted in several retailers pulling Eagle Brewing products off their shelves.
Beer Jerk, a Kiwi online craft beer stockist, dropped Eagle Brewing beer on Friday afternoon, saying their "whole team" was "disgusted by these indefensible comments".
By the evening the retailer backtracked however, explaining they would continue to sell Eagle Brewing stock they had already paid for but they would be blocking out the branding and donating all proceeds from the beer to charity.
Speaking to The Project, Beer Jerk's director Luke White said he decided to put the products back up for sale after discussing with friends about how to turn the situation into something more positive.
"We thought well we'll scrub out the name of the brewery on the images, we'll list it for sale, and proceeds will go to a charity where it can do good and hopefully help some people."
White said Beer Jerk hasn't yet decided what charity the money will go to and is currently talking with those who "know better" and can give the business some "guidance".
"But it'll certainly be an organisation that helps and supports people who are negatively affected by exactly this sort of hate," he told The Project.
A number of other stores and bars have since said they'll never stock Eagle Brewing beers again.
"We will no longer be supporting Eagle Brewing in any way. They were stocked in eight of our stores and all stores have now removed this product from their shelves," a Liquorland spokesperson told Newshub on Friday.
Canterbury Cricket also decided to remove Eagle Brewing as a sponsor.
After Gaughan's comment went viral, Eagle Brewing said in a post on Facebook, the comments had been "misconstrued", then deleted the post.
It then posted a second 'apology', this time saying Gaughan's comment was "poorly worded and was actually trying to highlight the unacceptable issue of violence against women", and it "totally denounces any form of racism and promotes a multicultural environment within its team of employees".
Gaughan went on to say he would take a break from Facebook and consider his position in the business.
"My health is currently not the best and I need some time to reflect on how the pressure of the last few years has impacted me."
Gaughan's actions have since faced criticism from chairman of the National Māori Authority Matthew Tukaki, who said he appears to be "unfit to hold any sort of role in a company and in particular a liquor company".
Tukaki said he's "sick and tired of not just the comments that people like this man have made, but also that when they do apologise they only do so when they appear to have been caught out".
