Golriz Ghahraman says accusations she blocked comedian Rose Matafeo from being MC at a Green Party launch event was a "misunderstanding".
Matafeo, a Kiwi comedian and actor, was previously in a relationship with Guy Williams, who is the current partner of Ghahraman - and she alleged on Twitter that she missed out on the gig at the request of the Green MP.
But Ghahraman, when asked if she had something to do with it, said "not at all", and said she has nothing to do with event planning.
"I found out about it yesterday. It's absolutely awful and devastating that someone was made to feel badly when they tried to volunteer for us," Ghahraman told reporters on Tuesday.
"We raised it with the party immediately and I've spoken to Rose and I've reached out and said that we should talk directly and it appears to be a misunderstanding - or a logistical problem."
Matafeo said in tweets she still intended to vote Green in the upcoming election, but said she was "gutted" and "disillusioned" at not being told why she was asked to step down.
"Feel incredibly disappointed to be asked to step down from MCing the Green Party campaign launch, apparently at the request of one of their MPs," she said.
"I have no relationship with this person, so I am feeling a little confused. I reached out last week to ask why and still have had no response. Gutting! Still gonna vote Green though.
"Not being able to volunteer my (very few) skills because someone in their ranks does not personally like me makes me feel sad and disillusioned."
One of the tweets included a screenshot of an email to Ghahraman asking for more information.
"Yesterday I was notified I have been asked to step down as an MC at the upcoming Green Party launch, at the request of Golriz. I'm unsure why this request was made, as I have had very little interaction with Golriz in the past few years," the email said.
Replies to the tweets have mentioned Matafeo's previous relationship with Williams and in one of her own follow-up tweets she added: "The only possible reason it could be is so petty that I wouldn't dream of suggesting it."
Ghahraman said she felt "awful" about Matafeo feeling upset.
"She is welcome to host. I understand they are still working out that event and when it is and what's going on with it," the list MP said.
"It's awful. She obviously felt really, really badly after trying to volunteer for us and that's devastating and it's so sad that I hadn't seen that email come through last week with all of the stuff that was happening [in Parliament]."
The Green Party has described the situation as "unfortunate".
"MPs aren't involved in organising party events or arranging speakers," a spokesperson for the party told Newshub. "Unfortunately, this seems to be the result of a miscommunication within the party."
Matafeo had no further comment when approached by Newshub.
