Cafe owner apologises over Oscar Pistorius receipt joke

A joke in poor taste has landed a New Zealand cafe in hot water. Scorch-O-rama at Scorching Bay in Wellington fielded at least a dozen complaints following a joke on its receipt making light of South African athlete Oscar Pistorius' killing of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

"Oscar Pistorius was super keen to get a new bathroom door, but his girlfriend was dead against it," ran the joke printed on receipts from Wednesday until complaints started flooding. Cafe owner Keith Morrison said he removed the joke from all receipts as soon as a customer complained.



"Sometimes our brains are the last thing to engage, when they should be the first. We truly are sorry and removed it as soon as we had that vital moment of awareness," he said. "We apologise again for any hurt or distress we caused people - it was absolutely never our intention."

Morrison said he strongly objected to suggestions his staff were unsafe in their workplace. "People are saying 'are my staff in an environment that isn't safe'. Come on. It's ridiculous to infer that, but I understand," he added. Morrison has also donated $1000 to Women's Refuge.