World media is praising NZ First leader Winston Peters for his brutal shutdown of a COVID-19 denier.
During a campaign event in Tauranga on Tuesday, an audience member with a distinct American accent asked Peters for proof that coronavirus exists.
And Peters didn't hold back in his response.
"We've got someone who obviously got an education in America. 220,000 people have died in the United States, there are eight million cases to date, we've got 79,000 cases just today, probably, in India, and here is someone who gets up and says 'the earth is flat.' Sorry sunshine, wrong place."
Peters' sassy response went down well with the crowd who clapped and laughed.
And it seems Kiwis aren't the only ones who enjoyed his answer. International media has praised Peters with NowThis calling it "the sickest of burns".
"New Zealand’s deputy prime minister laid down the sickest of burns on this anti-science COVID-19 denier," it captioned a video of the interaction.
Meanwhile, Forbes compared his comeback to the popular phrase, 'Bye Felicia".
"This would not be a good advertisement for an American education. During a campaign event on Wednesday, New Zealand’s Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters gave a COVID-19 coronavirus denier his version of 'bye, Felicia'."
The article also pointed out the irony of the man asking the question in New Zealand, which has been widely praised for its COVID response.
Social media users also loved the burn, with one person calling it "sensational".
"This is sensational. Well done Deputy Prime Minister."
"Good. The kid gloves need to come off when dealing with the people that are in denial about this virus," another said.
New Zealand has been widely praised for its swift COVID-19 response. In August, The World Health Organization called New Zealand a "global exemplar".
"Some countries in the Mekong Region, New Zealand, Rwanda, and many island states across the Caribbean and the Pacific were able to suppress the virus early," the WHO's Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
"New Zealand is seen as a global exemplar and over the weekend Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern celebrated 100 days with no community transmission while stressing the need to remain cautious."
The country is currently at alert level one after 21 days without community transmission of the virus. On Friday there were four new cases in managed isolation and a "weak positive" historic case, which is being investigated.
So far, New Zealand has recorded 1876 cases and 25 deaths. Meanwhile, the US has recorded more than 8 million cases and 217,000 deaths. In the UK there have been 674,000 cases and 43,293. Australia has recorded 27,362 cases and 904 deaths.
