A popular parenting blogger has been slated after she complained that her dream trip to New Zealand had been cancelled in the wake of the devastating floods.
Britnee Kent, a 'mummy blogger' and wellness influencer from Honolulu, Hawaii, has been castigated for a "tone-deaf" clip that lamented the cancellation of her flight to New Zealand amid the adverse weather that has plagued several northern regions.
The clip, which has since been deleted from her TikTok following the extreme backlash, showed Kent packing away her suitcase into a cupboard.
Kent, who has more than 520,000 followers on the video-sharing platform, captioned the footage: "When they don't let you on the plane to NZ so your dream trip gets cancelled."
The video was branded "tone-deaf", with viewers quick to condemn the mum-of-two for being inconsiderate and insensitive to the plight of many New Zealanders amid the flooding.
Four people were killed in the torrents caused by the unprecedented downpour on Friday, with torrential rain hammering Auckland, Waikato and the Bay of Plenty over the weekend. Flooding has impacted a number of areas, causing landslides and inundating numerous homes. At the time of writing, 102 homes in Auckland have been red-stickered, meaning they are no longer inhabitable due to the damage, while 375 have been yellow-stickered, which indicates restricted access.
Despite Kent removing the video, snippets have continued to be circulated on social media, with viewers in awe of the mum's "lack of self-awareness". Australian content creator Nick Nadowell was one of those to reshare the clip, branding it "the most American thing I've ever seen on this app".
"I thought it had to be satire, there's no way that you're lacking that much self-awareness. I thought it had to be a joke - it's real," he added, with the clip racking up over 1.1 million views at the time of writing.
"People are dying but they probably didn't 'let you' in because they want to ruin your trip," another user snarked on TikTok, with a third adding: "I know right, like no lady, 'we saw your name on the flight and decided to have an emergency flood'. So much loss and death to spite one person."
"The absolute tone-deaf audacity! This fills me with so much protective rage for our cuzzies [cousins] across the ditch," another Australian user weighed in.
Others defended Kent, suggesting it was likely the family hadn't seen the news about the devastation in New Zealand before uploading the controversial content.
"To be fair, no one in America is talking about it - I had no idea until literally right now," one US user acknowledged, with a second noting: "I had no idea about the flooding until this video, but also if you are travelling there then you think they would keep up with what is going on in that area."
Over on Twitter, 6 News Australia anchor Leonardo Puglisi shared a screenshot from the video before it was removed, commenting: "Hmmm yes I wonder why planes can't land in certain parts of New Zealand right now hmmm."
The tweet prompted a wave of similar responses, many of whom were flabbergasted.
"This mentality drives me absolutely wild. There are people dying, but oh no. The horror. My holiday," one remarked.
In a video uploaded to their YouTube channel early on Wednesday (NZ time), Kent and her partner addressed the reasons behind their cancelled trip, with Kent saying the couple are "so sad for everyone affected by the flooding". The video itself was made in partnership with an insurance company.
In the video, Kent's partner explained the family were unable to board their flight to Auckland due to issues with their booking, noting their cancelled trip was not due to the adverse weather in New Zealand at the time.
"And now looking back, there are a lot of things that were like, maybe this isn't meant to be, just with all the flooding and everything that's going on. We had a RV [recreational vehicle], I'm sure we wouldn't have been able to get through on a bunch of roads... I just don't think we would've had the best time with all the rain, the kids would've been really bored... and if we weren't able to get out and do the things we wanted to do," Kent added.
"So maybe it wasn't meant to be, but it was really hard to swallow."
People who need a Civil Defence payment, supplements to loss of income, emergency bedding or clothing should call 0800 400 100.
Civil Defence centres:
- West: St Leonards Rd School, 15 Saint Leonards Rd, Kelston
- North: Massey University Albany Campus, Sir Neil Walters Lecture Theatre, Massey University East Precinct, Albany Expressway SH17
- South: Mana Tukutuku, 32 Riverton Dr, Randwick Park.
For more information click here.
