New Zealand | Prime minister apologizes for ponytail pulling

New Zealand’s Prime Minister John Key has apologized to a cafe worker for repeatedly pulling her ponytail when he visited the cafe over several months, even after she’d told him to stop. The worker wrote an anonymous post yesterday on The Daily Blog website, saying Key began pulling her hair last year during his successful re-election campaign and continued the behavior through late March. At first, she wrote, she didn’t say anything as she thought Key was probably trying to be “playful and jolly.” Eventually, she wrote, she told Key’s security detail she didn’t like it and later told Key “No” repeatedly and wagged her finger at him. When he pulled her hair again on a subsequent visit, she said, she told him to stop “or I will actually hit you soon.” “I really didn’t like it,” the worker wrote. “I felt powerless and tormented and I stepped out the back and I cried frustrated tears.” Key’s office issued a statement yesterday saying, “His actions were intended to be light-hearted”. “It was never his intention to make her feel uncomfortable and he has apologized to her.” AP