Scott Brown: more complaints surface over behaviour of US ambassador to New Zealand
The ugly American-way to represent. 
Scott Brown: more complaints surface over behaviour of US ambassador to New Zealand
US officials investigated Brown after he was accused of inappropriate behaviour at a party in Samoa and was alleged by one woman to have stared at her breasts
Eleanor Ainge Roy in Dunedin and Julian Borger in Washington
Thursday 26 October 2017 13.05 EDT
First published on Thursday 26 October 2017 08.47 EDT
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Brown responded to the allegations by saying that even though two people may speak English, they sometimes do not understand each other.
But the Guardian has, over the past two months, spoken to multiple witnesses who attended the party who claim the behaviour of the ambassador – the first appointed by the US president, Donald Trump – was worse than he has admitted.
It is understood that two complaints investigated by the US state department against Brown originally came from two female peace corps volunteers who were at the event, and who served food and drink to the guests as a way to flip the cultural norm of Samoans serving westerners.
But in addition to these complaints are others that the ambassador’s behaviour was “shocking”, “culturally insensitive”, “rude” and “undiplomatic”. The Guardian contacted more than a dozen people who attended the party and spoke to a number who said he had made them feel uncomfortable.
One woman told the Guardian that Brown allegedly stared at her body when she was introduced to him. She did not want to be identified, but said: “The first time I met him, he looked at my chest immediately.” She alleged that another female colleague had a similar experience.
“I felt immediately uncomfortable and it didn’t feel right,” she added.
A male ex-peace corps volunteer described a strained atmosphere developing at the party as the ambassador shouted at guests to be quiet and listen to him. “It was very culturally insensitive,” said the man. “He just did multiple things in 15 seconds that really put me off, and looking around saw it put off a lot of other people as well.
“At least twice, maybe three times, he was telling everybody, ‘Stop talking, be quiet, listen to me.’”
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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/26/scott-brown-more-complaints-surface-over-behaviour-of-us-ambassador-to-new-zealand?CMP=share_btn_tw
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