Summarised by Centrist
Activist Eru Kapa-Kingi has posted a video of himself repeatedly punching a bag after telling followers they could imagine the bag was Prime Minister Christopher Luxon.
Kapa-Kingi, who rose to prominence during the Hīkoi mō te Tiriti protests and was previously Te Pāti Māori’s vice-president, shared the video on Instagram on Thursday morning.
He asked followers to “let us know what/who you’re imagining the bag to be” before explaining how to increase the “intensity” of training by imagining the bag as something they hated.
“If you want to pick up the intensity of your training, you [could] imagine that this bag is either, like a concept that you hate, like racism, or colonisation, or stealing of indigenous land,” he said.
He then escalated the suggestion from ideas to people.
“Make it a person like, the current Prime Minister of New Zealand,” Kapa-Kingi said, before unleashing a
flurry of punches on the bag.
The video drew comments from people naming other politicians, including Paul Goldsmith and David Seymour. Green Party Waiariki candidate Tania Waikato also commented “my brooooo” with laughing emojis.
Luxon said he had not given the video much thought, but said leaders had a responsibility to manage their rhetoric.
“It’s up to political leaders, community leaders, business leaders, everybody to manage their own rhetoric,” Luxon said. “I manage mine, and all I can do is call on other leaders to do their own.”
Kapa-Kingi is the son of Te Tai Tokerau MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. He was on Te Pāti Māori’s list at the 2023 election and served as the party’s vice-president until March 2025.
Editor’s note: This is not the first time Eru Kapa-Kingi has been associated with violent or intimidating rhetoric.
In October 2025, Te Pāti Māori released allegations against Kapa-Kingi after an internal dispute involving his mother, Te Tai Tokerau MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. Media reports at the time said he was accused of abusing parliamentary staff, including allegedly saying, “I will f….. knock you out.” Kapa-Kingi denied the party’s claims, calling them defamatory and “unequivocally wrong.”
