Matt Dawson’s ‘hakarena’ mash draws Kiwi fire, but some All Blacks see the funny side
England World Cup winner accused of being insensitive after he lampoons traditional war dance in clothing company advert
English World Cup winner Matt Dawson's lampooning of the haka in an advert for a clothing company has riled plenty of New Zealanders on social media, but the All Blacks synonymous with the traditional dance laughed off his spoof.
Dawson's video features the "hakarena" where Dawson combines the traditional ancestral war cry with a Spanish dance song, the Macarena, and the result is a camp and comical mash-up of the two.
New Zealanders reacted on Twitter, accusing Dawson of cultural insensitivity, and former co-leader of the Maori Party in New Zealand hit out at the mocking video.
WATCH: Matt Dawson and his boys do the 'hakarena'
"The haka is very meaningful to us," Pita Sharples said. "To actually mimic it and deliberately bring it into ridicule is, to me, insulting."