Hurricanes board member Troy Bowker stands by comments labelled as racist, saying his views have "nothing to do with rugby" after he was criticised by star player TJ Perenara.
Bowker drew criticism for replying to a social media post from Sir Ian Taylor which showed a Tom Scott cartoon.
The caption of the cartoon was "How come NZ excels on the water in yachting, rowing, kayaking etc? Answer: Our Ancestral DNA!"
Sir Ian said it could be a wonderful message for "Judith [Collins] and her friends".
Bowker took exception to this, saying it was "another example of European NZers not being proud of their own ancestors".
He accused Sir Ian of "sucking up to the left Māori loving agenda" and asked "what percentage" Māori he was.
In a statement to Newshub, Bowker says his views are nothing to do with the Hurricanes and he "regularly" makes "political and business comments" on issues he feels need to be spoken about.
"There is no doubt [Sir Ian's] post was political in nature, hence my response.
I pointed out:
1. That the post was a load of nonsense
2. We as a country should be proud of our ancestors whether they are European or Maori.
3. I did not say Maori should not be proud of their ancestors. I was simply pointing out that Europeans should be equally as proud and that his post did not do that and was essentially glorifying only Maori DNA and not European."
He added there was "nothing racist" about his comments, and he stands by all of them.
It follows Perenara posting on Twitter on Wednesday to say he has begun conversations with other Hurricanes players and upper management and he expects these to continue over the coming days.
"The mental, emotional, and cultural safety of our players is crucial and needs to be assured. Our supporters deserve better and should be able to back us without feeling conflicted."
Bowker's comments have also been labelled racist by Speaker of the House Trevor Mallard, who said he would not attend another Hurricanes game while Bowker was a member of the board, and Chair of the National Māori Authority Matthew Tukaki.
Tukaki said Bowker should not only apologise but step down from his role.
"Bowker is nothing more than a scrape the bottom of the barrel character that quite frankly is not deserving of any leadership role."
