Meet New Zealand's Russell Brand?

Self-styled guru Franko Heke is facing allegations he'd rather avoid.

Hi,

There is an all too common story within the guru community, and we see it play out again and again. The end is nearly always the same — a trail of victims and confusion left in the guru’s wake.

As seen in the recent case of Russell Brand, the guru simply denies everything before shapeshifting into another lifestyle. In the case of Brand, he found God.

A recent piece in the LA Times.

The shift to “Born Again Christian” should come as no surprise, because all The Guru does is shape-shift. He’s an expert at it (and they’re nearly always a he).

Rockstar Comedian Actor becomes Guru becomes Undone becomes Born Again Christian.

I fear we’re seeing similar things play out with New Zealand’s own self styled guru, Franko (real name Francis) Heke.

Franko Heke strikes a pose.

For years Heke has received a torrent of positive press, this glowing piece from 2013 announcing his plans to “take on the world”. Another piece from January this year focussed on the success of his “spiritual” music festivals:

“Franko Heke has been running alcohol-free parties for almost a decade. Over that time, they’ve grown from niche events to huge festivals attended by thousands of people.”

His main claim to fame was co-founding Spirit festival, and he rose to Guru alongside it.

He travels globally in this role, appearing at other festivals around the globe espousing concepts like “Starseeds” — a movement Webworm focussed on when looking at Lonely Lingerie’s descent into QAnon.

Franko: Starseed Edition.

This week Franko Heke updated his Facebook status with something that hinted at the beginning of things coming undone. It referred to two “regenerative land projects” he founded — Ariki Estate and Tūmanako Hope.

“Paying her mortgage & repaying the loans that supported the launch of this project has been a struggle to say the least. 

Real humans are at the end of these loans & I want to thank all of you for your patience to date for the delays in paying both Ariki & NZ Spirit debts.

From the bottom of my heart I am truly sorry for the upset, extra pressure and stress that this is causing any of you and your loved ones, and I am also sorry if you have not felt enough communication has been made around this.” 

The red flags are there, including the classic non-apology — apologising for how those waiting for money were feeling: “I am also sorry if you have not felt enough communication has been made.”

As for the “extra pressure and stress” — Webworm has spoken to several victims on conditions of anonymity. Some on social media have been much more direct, one New Zealander posting this public update:

“In the past year, I have watched my mother […] go from being a fiery, independent, strong willed, positive and loving woman to a traumatized person that has lost trust in herself, no enthusiasm in doing things or seeing friends, suffering from deep social anxiety and recently confessed to me that for the first time in her life had suicidal ideation.”

They go on to post about their mother allegedly investing “most of her life savings” into one of the communities Franko had started, “which he sold as a promise that felt aligned and would benefit many people with similar values.”

Webworm has spoken to other investors that are attempting to get their money back. All the while, a barrage of negative comments appeared under Franko’s post, and were swiftly deleted.

One of those communities, Ariki Estate, released a statement this week stating, “Franko no longer holds any role in respect to managerial decisions at Ariki Estate.”

Ariki Estate Limited is a community managed business with 26 shareholders, one of whom is Francis (Franko) Heke Yates.

[…]

We wish to acknowledge the concerns raised about NZ Spirit Festival held partially on Ariki’s land by a separate company NZ Wairua Ltd, trading as NZ Spirit, which is solely owned and operated by Franko.

We understand that there are many individuals who have been upset through actions taken by NZ Spirit and Franko. We take any complaints about any of our shareholders very seriously and wish to assure you that Franko no longer holds any role in respect to managerial decisions at Ariki Estate Limited.

[…]

In light of these developments, we have made the difficult decision to not allow any more NZ Spirit festivals on Ariki land in 2024-2025.

Webworm understands Franko Heke is overseas for most of the remainder of the year — when Webworm messaged him, he replied:

“I’m actually in Paris right now on a stopover to my next show in Serbia.”

A day before his Instagram post apologising for people’s feelings, he’d posted a video showing him singing on a balcony in the Hollywood hills, a group of women dancing behind him.

Franko in Hollywood over the past weekend.

As he strums his guitar, I’m reminded of The Guru’s roots and their ability to shape-shift. Before Franko Heke the Guru, he was Franko Heke the Rocker — sporting the singlet, glasses and hair not dissimilar to Kiwi icon Dane Rumble.

The proto-Franko Heke (not Dane Rumble, who is not a Guru).

Somewhere along the way, The Rocker became The Guru — a tattoo of a gun pointing towards his genitals a subtle clue of his other life.

Franko Heke, Guru.

Webworm is currently talking to a number of people who allege problematic and abusive interactions with Franko — Webworm seeing emails and texts which show a character very different to the calm, enlightened individual the world sees.

They paint a portrait of someone taking advantage of some of those drawn into his stories of “enlightenment” and “spiritual freedom”.

And there are so many primed to be taken advantage of (anyone else who wants to get in touch I am: davidfarrier@protonmail.com).

The weird fact (and it is weird!) is that we’ve all woken up on this spinning rock with absolutely no idea how we got here, or what we’re meant to be doing. Whilst exhilarating, it’s also terrifying. To be conscious of the fact we’re alive and will one day be dead is an odd burden to bear; a realisation only afforded (by some bizarre cosmic trickery) to us humans.

And so we look for answers — some turning to Musk, others to God.

And for some, to The Guru.

I think it’s important to remember that no-one has the answers. You know as much as anyone else does.

And whilst that can be terrifying — it’s also perfectly, absolutely okay.

David.

A PSA: To The Future

I wanted to thank you for being here. I have been writing Webworm for over 4 years now, two to three pieces a week, with no break from that rough schedule.

Generally, it’s the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done — mainly due to the community here, and the change it can lead to (see the reader email below).

That said, I sometimes want to throw my head through the wall. Some of the cans of worms I open here lead to other cans of worms, that simply contain another cans of worms. It’s worms all the way down.

You don’t get to see that stuff — it takes time and resources to sort out. I appreciate the lawyer I sometimes use who gives discounted rates.

With that in mind: A giant thanks to those who pay for Webworm. You keep it functioning and ad-free.

If you’re part of the 90% who reads for free, and you can afford to sign up (putting it another way, if it causes you zero financial hardship) — please consider doing so. It helps.

While free readers for Webworm grow, paying members drop. And so I have to occasionally make this awkward ask.

Here are free readers signing up over the last 90 days:

And these are paid members:

So yeah, come aboard. Only if it causes you zero financial worries.

I write extra stuff for paid members, including some pieces that I think are pretty fucking funny — The Parent Zone being a good example. Thanks to Hayden Donnell for working with me on this:

The Parent Zone

Consider it. I like to think it’s worth it. And if you’re a student or on a pension or simply things are too tight, email me and I will sort you out for free: davidfarrier@protonmail.com.

I have two upcoming things for paying members: A pretty bonkers update to the Tickled story involving David D’Amato millions, and a podcast episode that I am fizzing to share. It has remnants of the Gary story (also available for paying members):

Gary

I love doing this stuff and whether you are reading or paying — one or the other, or both — THANK YOU.

Reader Feedback that makes ALL of this worthwhile:

“And also... (#confession) David Farrier is so cynical, he’s obviously got a personal axe to grind. Ugh.”

“I am writing to you as a former poster child for Arise church and wanted to thank you for the work you’ve done in this space.

It has inadvertently been part of my deconstruction process which was a long time coming and then happened all at once. We left Arise before the media storm, for some similar reasons to things expressed (essentially it being a toxic environment).

However I was still defensive of Arise and said the cliched things like - what about all the good they do/there's no perfect church etc.

And also... (#confession) David Farrier is so cynical, he’s obviously got a personal axe to grind. Ugh.

It took until earlier this year when all the threads I'd been pulling finally unravelled and I was able to put the term 'religious trauma' to so many of the experiences of my life, and see it all for what it really is.

In my view: a repressive system that primes people for suffering and abuse. No to be dramatic or anything. The parallels between these religions and cults/abusive relationships were just too hard to ignore once I saw them. To realise that any expression of personal hurt that comes out of these systems is valid - mine, yours, and the countless people who came forward - shouldn't have taken so long for me to see, but there was just so much entanglement to undo.

I mean, what other kind of hurt is there anyway? It's all personal when it comes down to it, and that's what matters. That individuals are being hurt in these systems. As well as devouring many deconstruction podcasts, satanic memes, and the Hillsong doco, I’ve been reading a bit more of what you’ve written (including about Brooke Fraser) and have just listened to your interview on In The Shift (which was a great listen) and it sounds like you have far more grace and kindness towards Christianity than I do now!

For me the big shift in life was having kids who pushed all my buttons and drove me to dig deeper into how I was raised, what I believed and how I wanted to raise my kids.

It's been a complicated and winding road, but we've ended up in the place where we now watch Queer Eye together and they drop f bombs all the time because I am both wanting the world to be wide open for them, based on love and not fear, and want to pick my battles (and truthfully f bombs are needed to undo so much of the shite I've inflicted on them).

I don't have all the answers (far from it) and we're for sure not a poster family. But I'm ok with just being a human and not being 'the light of the world'. Ultimately all I can see now is the harm religion does in that no matter what you put on top of it, the underlying belief is that we are born sinful/broken and/or separated from God/goodness.

You can't undo Christianity from the Old Testament where God OKs genocide, child sacrifice, slavery, war and murder. Similarly, you can't have a divine Jesus without believing you are so wretched that you made God kill himself.

I'm aware I could easily become an evangelical atheist and am trying to rein it in, especially in how I talk to my Christian friends and family, but at the same time I want to be somehow part of the solution in undoing the harm.

Needless to say it's a work in progress! For now, please accept this as a sorry for dismissing all or any part of this work you have been doing, and also a thank you for all you are continuing to do.

It is so important.