New Zealand broadcasting station RadioLive is feeling the backlash of an advertising pullout over an interview made by station hosts Willie Jackson and John Tamihere with a friend of an alleged rape victim of the notorious Roast Buster gang.

YouTube/Graeme Axford

What incurred the ire of companies such as Yellow, which announced on Thursday its pull out of advertising, was that the so-called friend blamed the female victim and even supported a rape culture.

Despite the apology by the two hosts, who said they definitely do not condone the action of the Facebook group called Roast Busters which is made up of young male members who have sex with drunk underage girls and then post the video as well as name the girls on the social media site, other advertisers are still backing out.

ANZ Bank will follow Yellow's move in suspending advertising until further notice. ANZ said it recognises that freedom of speech is an important component of a well-functioning media, but RadioLive has crossed the line.

Chris Armistead, chief executive of Yellow, said, quoted by TVNZ, "We had a small portion of advertising with RadioLive as part of a broader radio campaign ... we received feedback about this placement in the current environment and we have decided to withdraw our advertising from RadioLive for this campaign."

While RadioLive stressed that it does not condone the action of Roast Busters or any violence against females, independent Wellington-based researcher Giovanni Tiso said an apology from the two hosts was not enough. He said AA Insurance would also pull out its advertising with the station pending a full review of the interview.

Mr Tiso contacted 30 of the station's advertiser. Besides the three that have decided to pull out, one advertiser, Countdown said it will keep its contract with RadioLive.

Reports said the two hosts were called by the station general manager for a meeting.

The advertising pull-out brings back memories of a similar backlash almost a year ago on an Australian radio station whose talk show hosts pretended to be Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles to get information about the medical condition of then pregnant Kate Middleton, wife of Prince William. Jacintha Saldanha, the Indian nurse who handled the call and gave medical information, eventually committed out of shame for what she did, shocking the world with the repercussions of the radio prank gone wrong.

YouTube/ABC News

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