A Gold Coast nightclub has changed its name after being slammed by cultural experts and New Zealanders as "insensitive and offensive".
Set to open later this month, the club called 'Tāne', named after the god Tāne Mahuta, attracted widespread backlash on social media.
Māori cultural adviser Karaitiana Taiuru tiold Newshub the name was "ignorant and uninformed". After Newshub contacted the nightclub for comment, it announced on Facebook it would immediately change the name.
In a statement, the club said it was "never our intention to offend any culture".
"We sincerely thank the community for bringing this matter to our attention so promptly and look forward to announcing a new name for our immersive jungle-themed venue in the coming days."
On the club's previous Facebook posts, which had attracted hundreds of comments, people accused the club of "profiting off someone's culture". The club's Facebook page has since been deleted.
"Not at all impressed by the cultural insensitivity here using our Atua Tāne in the name for a night club," one user said.
Taiuru says the nightclub name was "abusing Māori religious beliefs".
"In addition to degrading a religious icon and tribal beliefs, the bar is mocking the many Māori natural healers who use the forest to create medicine and to many people who use the forest for spiritual and other purposes," he said.
"Associating a head with any food or drink is also offensive in Māori culture, and more so with alcohol and with a deity."
About Tāne Mahuta
Tāne Mahuta is known as the "Guardian of the Forest". According to the Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand, he separated his parents - Ranginui the sky father, and Papatūānuku the earth mother - to bring light into the world.
Taiuru said Tāne also created the first female, with whom they had a child.
"For many Iwi and Pacific Islands, that child was Tiki the deity of fertility. Images I have seen online show Tiki being depicted on glasses with alcohol. Again, mocking another religious icon and creating grave offence to some Māori."
What is cultural appropriation?
According to the Cambridge Dictionary, cultural appropriation is "the act of taking or using things from a culture that is not your own, especially without showing that you understand or respect this culture".
Taiuru described the cultural appropriation of Māori in the past few centuries as being "normalised".
"There is no quick and simple solution in my opinion," he explained. "Firstly, people need to ask themselves if they are using another culture, what does the image or practice really mean, what is the cultural significance of it?
"We have seen appropriation of other people's cultures around the globe end in violence."
Recent cases
Last month, an art gallery in Christchurch apologised after complaints one of its artworks was appropriating Māori culture.
The artwork, according to Radio New Zealand, was a painting of a white woman with a facial moko.
Kiwi TV presenter Erin Simpson was accused of cultural appropriation in May for sharing artwork featuring Tikanga Māori designs on a monkey. She later issued an apology for the artwork.
The COVID-19 pandemic has also brought out instances of cultural appropriation. In April, a group of UK nurses apologised for performing a haka where they wore white headbands and black face paint while attempting it.
At the time, Taiuru described the haka, a video of which was posted online, as "distasteful and disrespectful to the descendants of Ngāti Toa and all Māori".
"The video was intended as a show of our commitment as Livewell Southwest nurses to continue to work hard and care for people as we fight coronavirus," the nurses said in an apology after removing the video.
