The Wiggles have spoken out about receiving death threats after it was announced they were given approval to enter New Zealand borders for their We're All Fruit Salad Tour.
The Australian children's entertainers were granted permission to stay at a managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) hotel, but it prompted fury amongst Kiwis.
MIQ spaces have been in limited demand and many New Zealanders have been fighting for a spot to return home.
But the entertainers say they had no idea they caused such controversy.
"Well, we were in Australia when that happened," blue wiggle Anthony Field told The Project on Thursday.
"We were just following orders when we filled out so we thought we'd done everything right and then we started getting death threats on emails and we thought 'what's going on in New Zealand?'"
Field says they apologise to any New Zealanders who have taken issue with their tour.
"We apologise for whatever we caused, and of course if we took someone's place that we shouldn't have, we would give that place up tomorrow - and, or yesterday."
COVID-19 response Minister Chris Hipkins told reporters in January no one had been pushed out of the queue to accommodate The Wiggles.
"Sometimes there are cancellations, rooms become available and I think they have managed to find a way to accommodate them," Hipkins said.
The Wiggles praised New Zealand's MIQ system after recently completing their 14-day managed isolation at Auckland's Holiday Inn Airport.
"We've done the quarantine at the Auckland Holiday Inn Airport and it was so beautifully run by the army and the navy and we're ready to go," Field said.
"And apologies for all that kerfuffle that we caused, inadvertently I must say."
The We're All Fruit Salad Tour begins in Invercargill on Friday (March 19) and finishes in Wellington on April 1.
