Green MP Benajmin Doyle facing ‘death threats and abuse’ over social media account
Monday, 31 March 2025
Winston Peters has publicly raised the prospect of the potential of police investigating a Green MP over what could be interpreted as sexualised social media posts, while the Green Party leadership is calling on the prime minister to step in and censure Peters.
The Green Party’s newest MP, Benjamin Doyle, who uses they/them pronouns, has made their Instagram account private after screenshots of several posts were circulated online, which included captions that could be interpreted as sexually explicit innuendo.
Doyle has an professional Instagram account, @benjamin4Kirikiriroa, but prior to becoming an MP used the account @biblebeltbussy.
“Bussy” is a term mainly used by the LGBTQI+ community. It is defined by Google as “a portmanteau of “boy” and “pussy”.
X users, including notable right-wing social media influencer Chantelle Baker, have posted screenshots from the now-locked profile which show Doyle posing with a child, understood to be their own, one of which was posted with the caption “Bussy galore”.
Peters, who is the NZ First leader and deputy prime minister, made the comments regarding possible police inquiries to Sean Plunket’s The Platform on Monday morning.
“There is enough in those posts for the police to make an inquiry as to whether they breach the law or not,” Peters said.
His office directed all Stuff’s questions to Peters’ X (formerly known as Twitter) account.
Green co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick took the step of releasing a statement on the matter following Peters’ appearance on The Platform.
“This morning, the deputy prime minister has decided to double down on disinformation, fanning the flames of hatred towards the rainbow community that we have recently seen can lead to real world violence,” she said.
“Over the weekend, we reached out to the prime minister directly, and New Zealand First’s chief of staff, to ensure they understand the danger this behaviour creates.
“We have been screening immense numbers of death threats and abuse directed at our MP, Benjamin Doyle and their child.”
Peters, after appearing on the Platform, followed up with another post to X.
“What we are saying is there are many questions that the Green Party and Doyle need to answer as elected representatives including the appropriateness of his posts, his language, including what ‘Bussy’ and ‘Bussy Galore’ mean, what the symbols he uses mean, and in particular using that language and innuendo with the nature of the pictures he posted – and why he has deleted 52 of those posts,” he said.
“We are not accusing him of anything. If the police want to investigate they can.
“The public can decide their judgement. But the public have a right to know who and what they are voting for.”
“Enough is enough. The prime minister must shut down this behaviour,” Swarbrick said in a statement.
Addressing the use of the term “bussy”, Swarbrick said words can be used in different contexts.
“Members of any minority community, like our rainbow community, are accustomed to using and co-opting terms that may not be well understood by external groups, oftentimes with irreverence and absurdity,” she said.
“The central conspiracy here is that the use of such a word on a private account by an MP, before they were an MP, is inherently suspicious.”
At a Monday afternoon press conference, where he announced the government’s plan for two new Cook Strait ferries, Peters refused questioning about Doyle.
Doyle is the Green Party spokesperson for Takatāpui and Rainbow Communities, and is an associate health and education spokesperson, covering Māori and Early Childhood as well as Sexual and Reproductive issues.