The AM hosts are hitting out at a Kiwi businessman who called Nadia Lim "Eurasian fluff" and made comments about her cleavage.
Founder and CEO of specialty chemicals company DGL, Simon Henry, made the comments during a rich list interview with NBR last month.
During the interview, Henry hit out at the My Food Bag co-founder and celebrity chef, suggesting her looks were to blame for the company's disappointing entry into the public market.
"I can tell you, and you can quote me," he said. "When you've got Nadia Lim, when you've got a little bit of Eurasian fluff in the middle of your prospectus with a blouse unbuttoned showing some cleavage, and that's what it takes to sell your scrip, then you know you're in trouble."
He went on to suggest Lim, a well-respected businesswoman and entrepreneur, was using her "sensuality" to sell the meal delivery service.
"Go back to that prospectus and find that photo. You know you're in trouble. I mean, you know, when you got a TV celebrity showing off her sensuality to hock scrip, then you know you're in trouble," he told NBR.
The photo in question shows Lim cooking a chicken on a barbeque. Lim is wearing jeans, a white blouse (with no buttons) and a patterned shawl.
On AM on Thursday, co-host Melissa Chan-Green said the issue for her isn't Henry using the term 'Eurasian' but the context in which he used it.
"The term that I think has really offended people is the fact that he called her, 'A little bit of Eurasian fluff' and that's an interesting one because the word Eurasian is quite complex.
"It used to mean somebody who was of British and Indian descent back when there was British rule in India. But it came to mean someone who has ancestry both from European ancestors and Asian ancestors. So for me, sometimes in some instances, I will call myself Eurasian say on a health form if I think it might be useful to know that for a health expert to know... but there's also a lot of feeling today that you shouldn't be considered as half of something and half of something else.
"The issue here for me is actually not the term Eurasian, it's how it is used because he was clearly trying to be derogatory and in being derogatory he's used her race to further illustrate his point which is the problem," Chan-Green said.
AM newsreader Bernadine Oliver-Kerby agreed, questioning what Lim's race, gender and looks had to do with her business success.
"It's racist and sexist and you know what, it's kind of archaic thinking and terminology, " she said.
It was a sentiment shared by co-host Ryan Bridge who called Henry's comments "shameless".
"He's trying to undermine My Food Bag using Nadia Lim, who by the way, we all know Nadia Lim and have interviewed her many, many times and she is smart and what she's managed to do in terms of business, on top of her love and her skill and her day job, is incredibly and should be admired by everybody.
"So to use that to try to undermine the commercial imperatives of what she's trying to achieve is just a really douche move."
Chan-Green said Henry's comments are indicative of what many women in senior business roles deal with all the time.
It was a view backed up by NZ Brokers CEO Jo Mason who told AM she's experienced similar criticism in her career.
"As a woman who has been in senior positions in my time, I can't win. In the boardroom, if I dress in a nice dress and heels, I am labelled an airhead. If I wear trousers and a nice jacket I am butch. If I work late I am neglecting my family whereas my male colleagues are dedicated, you get the picture. Luckily I am now in an organisation that embraces diversity and we laugh at these old school attitudes."
AM has asked Henry for comment but is yet to hear back.
