Latest news with #ChristchurchBoys'High
The Spinoff
17 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Spinoff
‘I don't want to give up': Why Chris Parker refuses to join the brain drain
Alex Casey talks to comedian Chris Parker about his love of touring the country and going head-to-head with Marlon Williams at the Christchurch Town Hall. Chris Parker fancied himself a bit of a singer growing up. He was in the special choir, competed in Christchurch Music Festival competitions and even starred as Caiaphas in the Christchurch Boys' High production of Jesus Christ Superstar. But as he got older, he describes feeling self-conscious about it. 'I started to think, 'maybe I'm not actually a good singer at all',' he says. It was only years later that he realised where that insecurity had stemmed from – next to him in many of those choirs, competitions and performances had been his classmate, Marlon Williams. ' That's why I was so hard on myself,' Parker laughs. 'Because I grew up singing alongside our country's greatest voice.' In a fortuitous turn of events, the pair will be reunited once more in Christchurch's Town Hall, with Williams' Te Whare Tīwekaweka tour in the Douglas Lilburn Auditorium and Parker's Stop Being So Dramatic in the James Hay Theatre on Saturday June 28. 'Huge booking error on my behalf,' says Parker. 'Luckily he has already sold out so I'll just get any riff raff that's left.' While he hasn't talked to Williams about the coincidence, Parker has high hopes: 'afterwards we can swing open the doors and all climb into the big cone in the square, something fun like that.' He jokes, but there are nerves around performing in front of his home crowd. 'A lot of the show is about Christchurch – doing ballet as a kid and amateur dramatics as a young boy, and the community that you form,' he says. 'It's also about the cringe that makes you give up what you love the most.' There's also a bigger and timelier motivation behind the show. 'I got really bummed out about all the Destiny Church stuff and I felt myself getting quieter,' Parker says. 'I've been driven by that feeling of not giving up – because that's what they want.' The other thing that keeps Parker going is his love of touring stand-up around Aotearoa, even if it does get lonely sometimes. 'You go crazy because you're just on your own all day not talking to anyone, and then suddenly you're on the Wellington Opera House stage talking to everyone.' While there are some similarly large venues on the tour, he has a soft spot for 'unlocking' the audience in a new small town. 'Especially somewhere like Ranfurly and they come up and say 'you picked a terrible night to visit because it's Jan's 50th and we're all there'. I love that.' From performing everywhere 'right down the bottom to the very top' Parker has also seen the inside of a lot of shopping centres and malls, and intends to review them on Instagram during his tour in a series called Top of the Shops. 'Growing up in Christchurch I was raised in the mall, so I always find it really relaxing walking past a Strandbags on my way to a Muffin Break,' he says. 'There's some great malls in this country, especially The Meridian in Dunedin. In Christchurch it might be Riccarton, but I also think that South City is a phenomenal mall.' The flipside of this is that he's also familiar with the 'grim' town centres that have either not bounced back post-Covid, or been ravaged by the cost of living. Paired with a record number of young New Zealanders leaving the country, including many of Parker's comedy contemporaries like Two Hearts, David Correos and Alice Snedden, he's been thinking a lot about why people would want to stay. 'We have to figure out what's going to keep young people here, and I think a big part of that is that our cities are these fun, vibrant and amazing places to live.' The local entertainment industry has a lot to do with that vibrancy, but Parker likens the current situation to a candle that burns too quickly. 'It tunnels down fast, but then not enough oxygen gets in, and it snuffs itself out,' he says. 'There's just not enough people here who can keep turning up to stuff.' Even with its challenges, he feels a sense of duty to keep championing live events across Aotearoa. 'To an extent, it is up to people like us to be the reason why people want to go out and enjoy their life, rather than sitting at home watching AI videos.' His current tour includes sold out dates across Australia and the UK, but Parker insists he won't be going anywhere – and not just because he recently adopted a rescue dog. 'I don't want to give up on New Zealand. Whenever I'm in Australia, everyone's like 'surely, you'll just move over?' And I just say 'I love breakfast TV too much. I love Chris Chang, we can't move'.' His only hope is that audiences continue to show the same enthusiasm for live acts. 'It's our local talent who want the best for our country, so we need to keep turning up for them.' 'We want to stay here – I'm gagging to stay here.'
Epoch Times
12-05-2025
- Epoch Times
US Authorities Want to Seize $770,000 in Crypto From NZ Sex Trafficker
A New Zealander who was behind a production company which tricked women into becoming online porn stars—making him $17 million (NZ$30 million) before he was caught—is now facing the prospect of having $770,000 (NZ$1.3 million) in cryptocurrency seized by American authorities as he awaits trial for sex trafficking. It isn't often a New Zealander makes the FBI's top ten most wanted fugitives list, but Michael James Pratt achieved that distinction. Straight out of the elite Christchurch Boys' High, Pratt and his close friend Matthew Isaac Wolfe went into business together. Like many late 90s startups, they chose the internet. But unlike most, they went into the fast-growing online porn industry. They launched three websites, all of which showed short clips of X-rated content for free, luring users to click on links for subscription porn sites from which they received commissions. After six years of this, Pratt decided he could make more money by producing original material and established the subscription site GirlsDoPorn, featuring 18- to 22-year-olds with no history in the industry, which was its major selling point. Related Stories 3/15/2025 2/27/2025 By 2009, Pratt had moved himself and the entire operation to San Diego in the United States, where he was joined by Wolfe. Two more sites followed, both on the subscription model. Altogether, the three websites generated revenues of $17 million, according to law enforcement documents. Prosecutors allege the two men, along with accomplices, advertised lucrative clothed modelling work paying between $3,000 and $5,000, along with travel expenses. When it was revealed that the work was filming adult videos, the women, many of whom were struggling financially, were assured that the material would be sold privately to customers overseas, not in the United States. But in reality, it appeared on the group's websites, from where it has been downloaded thousands of times. If the women tried to back out, they were threatened with legal action, told their flights home would be cancelled, or that any footage filmed so far would be sent to friends and family. Criminal Charges Laid, Money Taken A civil class action in 2019, brought by 22 women, resulted in Pratt and his associates being found liable for more than $20 million in damages, plus costs and interest. Criminal charges were also laid in the Southern District of California relating to sex trafficking crimes. But while Wolfe was in custody, Pratt had vanished with the money, which he had converted into cryptocurrency. And thus came his appearance on the list of America's most notorious wanted criminals, with a $100,000 bounty on his head. The FBI poster issued in 2022 when Michael Pratt was one of the "10 most wanted" fugitives in the United States. Courtesy of the FBI Last March, And now, at last, Pratt is to face justice after being found staying at a hotel in Madrid under a false name. He was found due to a lead from a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) tip line, authorities claim. 'The capture of Michael Pratt is an example of how the FBI will pursue justice beyond U.S. borders—you can run, but you can't hide,' said Special Agent in Charge of the FBI San Diego field office, Stacey Moy. He is to face 19 charges, including sex trafficking, production of child pornography, sex trafficking of a minor, and money laundering. According to public court filings, Pratt and his co-defendants used force, fraud, and coercion to recruit hundreds of young adult women, most in their late teens, and at least one minor victim to appear in GirlsDoPorn videos. He has been extradited to the United States, where he has been denied bail and is awaiting trial starting Sept. 2. He faces life in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. U.S. authorities have lodged a forfeiture order for three cryptocurrency accounts containing a total of almost $770,000. Victim's Testimony At Wolfe's sentencing, one woman recalled the day she learned that her pornographic video received more than 300 million views on Pornhub, one of the most-visited websites in the world. 'That ad seemed harmless, but it wrecked my entire life. In an instant, the life I had was gone: My hopes gone, my relationships gone, everything was gone … The fallout from the videos spread to every part of my life like cancer, and that cancer remains to this day, making it virtually impossible for me to start a new life. 'I lost my modelling career, my college years, my whole twenties, my name, my career path, my friends, and my family. Everything I had built was gone, and so too was my future. Doors that were once opened were slammed in my face. 'Matthew Wolfe stole my life, and it wasn't just my life. He stole hundreds of lives. What kind of price do you put on a life?'
