Air New Zealand has hit back at criticism of a joke aired as part of an online promotion.
The airline was slammed on the Twitter-sphere for suggesting steroid-enhanced female Belarusian shot putter Nadzeya Ostapchuk has testicles.
The company launched a Christmas Cracker promotion on its Grabaseat site.
Those who didn’t win a prize instead received a consolation joke – with one reading: “What large heavy ball was responsible for Valerie Adams’ gold medal? The Belarusian’s left testicle.”
The so-called joke is a reference to Ostapchuk winning – and later being stripped of – the shot-put gold medal at the London Olympics after testing positive for a banned steroid.
The medal was later awarded to Kiwi shot-putter Adams.
Twitter users called the joke, “unbelievably offensive”, but Air NZ responded by tweeting, “not everyone likes our xmas cracker jokes so tell us your tacky kiwi jokes & we’ll add our favourites into the cracker”.
