New Zealand's Prime Minister John Key is under fire for mocking a radio host's red jacket, suggesting he's a weak golfer because the jacket's color is "gay", the New Zealand Herald reports:

"What you're wearing is an absolute disgrace. You parade yourself as some sort of centre-right interested community leader and you're in the red," he said. Later in the segment he described Mackay's top as "gay" in an exchange about golf. "You're munted mate. You're never going to make it. You've got that gay red top on."

The comments have been ridiculed on Twitter, with comedian Guy Williams saying "John Key is quickly becoming to New Zealand what Borat was to Kazakhstan."

Other Twitter users said the use of "gay" as an insult made Mr Key appear homophobic.

Today Mr Key said he used the term "gay" to mean "weird". He said he picked up the term from his children and had no intention of seeming homophobic. Asked at his post-Cabinet press conference whether he was homophobic, Mr Key said: "No, I'm voting for gay marriage, I'm hardly homophobic – I led the charge on it."

Mr Key agreed it was an unfortunate use of words but said: "a hell of a lot of people would use it and the common use of it is in the Oxford dictionary".

"Young people use it all the time, I don't think too many people would be offended by it. If someone is I apologise for it," he said.

Key was already under fire for comments he had made earlier in the day, calling footballer David Beckham "thick as batsh*t".

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