Sam Neill blames men for Jacinda Ardern’s resignation

Actor Sam Neill thinks he knows the real reason Jacinda Ardern quit New Zealand’s top job. And he didn’t mince his words.

Actor Sam Neill has lashed out at the “misogyny” he claims caused the resignation of New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

Speaking from Sydney, the Jurassic Park star rejected Ardern’s claims that online abuse was not the driving force behind her shock resignation.

“Women are judged differently,” he told The Independent of the misogyny he says is permeating society.

“As we know, it’s everywhere and that’s been put into focus very sharply here in New Zealand this year.”

Sam Neill in scene from film Jurassic Park III. Picture: Supplied

Neill’s comments come as Scotland’s Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced her own surprise resignation just weeks after insisting she still had “plenty in the tank”.

Ardern stepped down in January saying she no longer has “enough in the tank”, while Sturgeon said she knew in her “head and heart” it was time to quit.

Both leaders left office at all-time lows in popularity, with Ardern’s approval rating dipping into the negative before she cited “burnout”, and Sturgeon embroiled in a transgender controversy before admitting she had become a “polarising figure”.

Neill, however, said he didn’t buy Ardern’s explanation that she no longer had enough in the tank to do the job justice.

Jacinda Ardern announces her resignation on January 19. Picture: Getty Images

Nicola Sturgeon announcing her resignation less than a month later. Picture: AFP

“She says it’s nothing to do with the abuse and misogyny she’s had to put up with. But I’m sure it was. She was treated absolutely appallingly. In a way that wouldn’t have happened if she were male. It’s sad. Sad but true” he said.

Speaking of the “most terrible s--t” he gets online, Neill became admittedly “grumpier” as he blamed basement-dwelling trolls.

“These people in their soiled underwear in their basements. Anonymity brings out the worst in people. Abuse is so normalised online and it’s so much worse if you’re female. Horrible,” he said during the interview to promote his new legal drama, The Twelve.

“I get grumpier as I get older, like my dad, regrettably. He used to say, ‘What is this rubbish?’ when I was playing the Beatles. Well. I was listening to some K-Pop this morning and thinking: ‘This is just terrible!’ Just Awful! You see them do what they do and it’s kind of extraordinary but it leaves me completely cold. I’m sorry, girls!”