The Wright Family: A Masterclass in Damage Control

Following Sean Plunket's horrific tweets about starving children, the multi-millionaire Wright family springs into action.

Update:

Since I wrote this piece, other businesses have gotten in touch with me.

Along with VAST Billboards, Insulmax New Zealand has also cancelled all advertising with The Platform.

However, along with STEELFORT, Harness Financial has told Webworm it will continue advertising, saying, “We do not believe that cancelling or de-platforming individuals we disagree with serves the greater good, as this approach removes space for discourse and dialogue that can lead to better understanding and accountability.”

Output Envy is towing a similar line — with very similar language — telling a complainant, “While we understand that some commentary may be confronting or divisive, we do not support the practice of “cancelling” people or organisations based on differing opinions. Open dialogue, even when uncomfortable, can lead to greater understanding and accountability over time.”

With that in mind, Sean Plunket continues to share on X — mostly recently, sharing another post attempting to discredit the fact kids are starving to death:

As Conor O'Neill summed up so well:

I always think Plunket has hit rock bottom. Then he goes lower.

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Hi,

An update on my story earlier this week.

As I reported on Monday, New Zealand broadcaster Sean Plunket — the man behind online radio station The Platform — posted this message on X, as infants and kids were starving to death in Gaza:

Plunket then doubled down by sharing a post saying that starvation was not the cause of the shocking images of starving kids — rather, it was due to incest.

A bunch of people then sent messages of disgust to Wayne Wright Jr, the multi-millionaire Kiwi who had not only fully bankrolled the setup of The Platform, but was understood to still be sinking his millions into the project.

His reply to anyone complaining was, “I ceased funding of The Platform back in March”:

As I noted in my piece, we have no reason to trust Wayne Wright Jr — but I thought it was important to put his statement on record.

Turns out, perhaps very unsurprisingly, that the Wright family are very good at damage control.

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Damage Control: Part 1

While Stuff basically rehashed up my Webworm article with zero attribution, Shayne Currie at The Herald followed up by digging deeper, reporting that while “he had not put in any of his own money since March”, Wayne Wright Jr now owned 75% of the The Platform, “Through related parties, with Plunket holding the other 25%”.

This information is all readable viewable on the NZ Companies Office register.

In short: While Wayne Wright Jr may have stopped throwing his personal millions into Sean Plunket’s project, he is still very much involved — something he certainly didn’t indicate to anyone who approached him for comment on Plunket’s heinous social media posts.

Damage Control: Part 2

People also got in touch with the Wright Family Foundation, assuming they also had ties to The Platform.

The Wright Family Foundation sent a message back to anyone complaining saying, “Any views or comments expressed by Platform presenters or guests do not implicitly reflect those held by The Wright Family Foundation.”

Yesterday they emailed Webworm an entire press release:

In bold this time: “Wright Family Foundation Clarifies No Affiliation with The Platform NZ Following Sean Plunkett’s Gaza Comments.”

This is their statement in full (I have not corrected any spelling or grammar):

Sean Plunkett, media presenter of The Platform Media NZ Ltd, made a comment about the children of Gaza on Saturday 26 July 2025. In response to this recent comment, the Wright Family Foundation would like to clarify that “we do not support the views and statements made by Sean Plunkett, and we do not condone what Sean said regarding the starving children in Gaza – it was inappropriate”.

The Wright Family Foundation is a philanthropic fund set up by Chloe Wright in 2014 to support New Zealand charities. The Wright Family Foundation would like to publicly declare that they do not and have never funded, owned, overseen or had any affiliation with The Platform Media NZ Ltd. The Platform NZ’s relationship with the Wright family is with one individual family member, Wayne (Jr) Leslie Wright.

Wayne Jnr. is a shareholder and Director of The Platform Media NZ Ltd. Wayne (Jr) Leslie Wright is not involved nor employed by the Wright Family Foundation. Any views or comments expressed by The Platform NZ staff, presenters or guests do not implicitly reflect those held by the Wright Family Foundation, our staff, our Trustees or working family members within the Wright Family Foundation.

The Wright Family Foundation’s commitment to their vision, ‘Growing the Good’, remains unchanged. “We continue to provide positive support to charity organisations and individuals to achieve their dreams and fulfil their potential. Our team is working hard to benefit New Zealand communities and youth through education, promote family wellbeing and to continue to uphold Chloe Wright’s legacy and charitable reputation”.

This statement from the Wright Family Foundation certainly seems to distance themselves from The Platform: “Any views or comments expressed by The Platform staff, presenters or guests do not implicitly reflect those held by the Wright Family Foundation.”

Chloe Wright passed away in September 2023, so it’s hard to know exactly where she stood in regards to Sean Plunket and The Platform.

But this 2022 photo from a Herald article (not included in the press release) certainly makes you wonder:

“JOIN THE RESISTANCE” spouted Chloe Wright’s The Platform shirt.

To be clear: I have no idea what she would have made of Sean Plunket’s recent social media posts, but I’m really starting to struggle with the idea that the multi-millionaire Wright family are not Sean Plunket fans.

When it’s literally written on a t-shirt, it’s hard to look away.

And you start to wonder about people loudly saying they don’t “implicitly” agree with Sean Plunket. I dunno, maybe it’s more of an “explicit” thing?

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What Do The Platform’s Advertisers Think?

Speaking to Shayne Currie at The Herald this week, Wayne Wright Jr had this to say about Sean’s comments: “I’m not aware of any advertisers that have left us over the years as a result of an editorial position that he’s taken.”

With that in mind, I reached out to a bunch of companies who have advertised on The Platform with a link to my Webworm story, including:

https://outputenvy.com/pages/contact-us
https://www.insulmax.co.nz/contact/insulmax-head-office/
https://steelfort.co.nz/contact-us/
https://betta-sleep.com/pages/contact
https://www.ilovelabels.nz/contact
https://www.vastbillboards.co.nz/contact/
https://www.platinumhomes.co.nz/contact
https://harnessfinancial.co.nz/contact-us/
https://www.lawnmaster.co.nz/contact-us/
https://www.loganelevators.co.nz/contact.html

So far two have gotten back to me.

The first, VAST Billboards, has pulled their advertising with The Platform, stating:

“We acknowledge the seriousness of the issue you’ve raised and want to assure you that your message has been read with care.

To clarify, VAST Billboards has no formal affiliation with Sean Plunket. We do not sponsor him, nor does he represent our company in any capacity. The views expressed in the social media post you referenced are entirely his own and do not reflect the values or beliefs of our team.

We agree that commentary on humanitarian crises must be approached with empathy, accuracy, and respect. The suffering in Gaza is heartbreaking.

We have requested that all VAST Billboards advertising be removed from The Platform, and we’ve been assured this will be completed by Wednesday.

We appreciate you taking the time to hold organisations accountable.”

The second, STEELFORT, appears to be staying — their managing director emailing me this (I have not corrected any spelling or grammar):

“Amazing how far social media extends.(Twitter)

We are aware of Sean Plunket’s flippant comments and have made him aware of our feelings. He’s always been a very outspoken Journo and sometimes his comments are not well researched and certainly not compassionate.

Our support of The Platform is based entirely on our companies’ political views for New Zealand . I believe The Platform made some difference to the outcome of the previous election in NZ . Perhaps get a comment from our previous Labour Prime Minister , Jacinda Adhern who now lives in the US and managed to successfully destroy much of what made New Zealand so special.

I agree his comments re the Gaza situation are untimely and unnecessary however there are many underlying issues re the whole situation in the middle-east. It’s been a political shambles for hundreds of years and probably will be in the foreseeable future.

Incidentally, Wayne Wright still supports The Platform although I understand the ownership has changed from his original Trust Status.

I personally don’t get involved in social- media but understand that millions of people do.

David our position is entirely based on our support for New Zealand and its political direction, and Plunket is not the only “Talkback ‘ type host in the Platform ‘s journalists, MSM in New Zealand is very anti-government and the results of the last General election had a major change to New Zealand’s political direction. That general change I believe was global . It’s an interesting world.”

While appearing to have his moral and ethical muscles twitch a little (“his comments re the Gaza situation are untimely and unnecessary”), it wasn’t a very big flutter (“however there are many underlying issues re the whole situation in the middle-east”), and it appears ultimately they are still throwing their support behind Sean Plunket.

Meanwhile, Plunket himself appears to be taking a break from both his voice and from X:

I have very little doubt he’ll return when things calm down, perhaps to joke about some more dead and dying kids. And no doubt the Wright family will have something to say, implicitly.

David.

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You can share this story: webworm.co.nz/p/thewrightfamily

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How To Help:

If you want to support Gazans, it’s a complex situation out there — especially with aid being blocked by Israel.

Personally, I turn to World Kitchen: https://wck.org/relief/chefs-for-gaza

For anyone US-based, Stephanie does incredible peer to peer mutual aid, and her contact is a journalist in Gaza: https://www.instagram.com/stephaniehshih

You can check her saved stories for receipts.

But as with all things: Do your research on where you give.

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Also on Webworm today: