Pop-punk band Blink-182 has taken a swipe at Australia at its Auckland concert tonight, only days after insulting Christchurch.
The ensemble’s bassist Mark Hoppus took the stage at Spark Arena in Auckland this evening and said, “f*** Australia”.
Speaking to the crowd, Hoppus said, “be nice to us, we just came from f***ing Australia. F*** that place. I’m glad to be here. F*** Australia”.
He then clarified, potentially having seen headlines over his disrespect of the Garden City, that his comment was flattery, meaning to say “have sex and intercourse with Australia”.
Hoppus continued: “Your continent doesn’t have snakes. I f****** love this place.”
He made several other comments, one about mānuka honey, too obscene for the Herald to print. He also spoke about surviving cancer.
Bandmate Tom DeLonge then insulted the crowd.
“You want to know some facts about tonight,” DeLonge said.
“First fact; Auckland has some of the most beautiful women in the world. Too bad they couldn’t be here tonight.”
DeLonge was also pleased to learn Auckland had a Taco Bell restaurant, saying he asked his driver to stop there on the way to his concert.
Christchurch concert canned
The Californian band has a bad attitude, a Christchurch city councillor said following Hoppus’ comments about the town.
A video uploaded to TikTok shows Hoppus ripping on Christchurch at their gig in Melbourne, where he said: “To be honest Sydney sucked so f****** bad we had to cancel Christchurch… f*** Christchurch.”
“It’s a gnarly name for a town could you imagine naming your city that? If I were god.” Hoppus said.
Christchurch city councillor Andrei Moore said on social media: “Disappointing to learn of Blink-182 saying “f*** Christchurch” on stage in Melbourne after cancelling their sold-out show that many Christchurch folk and visitors bought tickets for 18 months in advance.”
“We’ve been through more than our fair share of challenges over the years which have led to many concert cancellations but I can’t ever recall any of them being followed up with an attitude as bad as this one,” Moore said.
It comes after Blink-182 announced last week they were cancelling their upcoming Christchurch show, just two weeks ahead of the event taking place.
The show, which was scheduled for March 4 at WolfBrook Arena, was cancelled with ticketholders and fans emailed announcing the news.
Drummer strolls down cental Auckland
The band’s drummer Travis Barker, along with his reality-TV star wife Kourtney Kardashian, were spotted arriving at their hotel in Auckland this morning.
In a clip uploaded to TikTok, Kardashian was seen arriving at a downtown hotel dressed in a red long-sleeve T-shirt with grey slacks and, of course, a pair of shades, while Barker donned an all-black fit.
The mum of four, who gave birth to Rocky Thirteen Barker on November 1, could be seen pushing a stroller into the hotel lobby as her husband followed behind.
The Poosh founder and her drummer husband tied the knot in 2022 in a lavish ceremony in Italy, and welcomed their first child together last year.
Barker, meanwhile, posted a photograph to Instagram taken from Wellesley St West in central Auckland.