The quiz team that wore Ku Klux Klan costumes to a community fundraiser at the Kaimai Community Hall has apologised to the event's organisers. Photo: Supplied / NZME
A group of people who turned up to a community fundraising quiz in the Bay of Plenty dressed in Ku Klux Klan costumes have apologised to the event's organisers for perpetuating racism and reinforcing harmful stereotypes.
The Kaimai Settlers Committee said in a statement that the quiz team had apologised to it, saying it was "deeply ashamed and embarrassed" by its "poor judgement and lack of awareness about the gravity of the situation".
The team took responsibility for the hurt and offence it had caused and the apology also referred to the consumption of alcohol and impaired judgement, the committee said.
"It was completely wrong of us to act in a way that perpetuates racism and reinforces harmful stereotypes," said the team apology.
The Ku Klux Klan, sometimes known as the KKK or the Klan, is the moniker of several past and present American white supremacists, far-right terrorists and hate organisations.
Its main targets include immigrants, leftists, homosexuals, Muslims, atheists, Latin people, Jews, Asian Americans, Native Americans and Catholics, as well as African Americans.
An attendee at the quiz, which took place at the Kaimai Community Hall, told the Herald she felt "sick" when the group entered the venue dressed in white hoods that covered their faces and white robes.
She said she had her back to the door as the group arrived, but an audible gasp from the crowd made her turn her head.
"The noise [the crowd made] was really hard to describe," she said.
At first, she thought she was misinterpreting the costumes and they unfortunately just looked like the KKK, but it quickly dawned on her this was not the case.
"There definitely would have been other people that were kind of disgusted, but it did feel like there were a lot of people who thought it was quite funny as well," she said.
She said she found the group "intimidating" as they shouted to the crowd, though she was not close enough to hear what they were saying.
In a statement on Sunday, the committee told the Herald no one had raised any issues on the night so they decided not to act.
However, after convening to review the matter, a committee representative said they had contacted the team involved and "strongly suggested" they apologise.
The committee today said it deplored the behaviour of the quiz team and regretted that it had not immediately asked it to leave or to "remove their offensive costume".
It would ensure there were adequate procedures in place to "stop anything like this happening again", the committee said.