'I don't recall making them but there's no reason I wouldn't have said them,' Hamilton City councillor Garry Mallett says.

A Hamilton City councillor accused of using gay slurs says he can't remember saying them - but is unapologetic if he did.

Garry Mallett allegedly said "fags" and "homos" during a council meeting last week, the Spinoff reported.

Mallett said they would have been throwaway, light-hearted comments.

CHRISTEL YARDLEY/STUFF Council chief executive Richard Briggs says he is following up on questions raised in an email.

"I don't recall making them but there's no reason I wouldn't have said them," he said.

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Hamilton City Council's chief executive Richard Briggs is following up on questions raised about Mallett's alleged comments.

They were allegedly made about pink paper used in a council agenda, the Spinoff reported.

Pink papers are used to denote the public excluded part of the meeting.

Mallett allegedly said "What's with the homo colour in our agenda?" to two female council staff members, the Spinoff reported.

A fellow councillor reportedly challenged him on his language, to which Cr Mallett replied: "[are we looking after] the gays and fags now?"

Mallett said anyone who gets offended needs to get over themselves and most people in the gay community "couldn't give a rat's arse".

"Because they call themselves homos, they call themselves gays, they call themselves fags, they call themselves queer. They are proud of being pink," he said.

"You know that for a fact unless you haven't got any homosexual friends. And if you haven't got any homosexual friends, you need to get out a bit more."

"Do you think I would have said it with malice, anyway?"

On Monday, council got an email about Mallett's alleged comments, a statement from council chief executive Richard Briggs said.

The email raised questions which Briggs said he was following up, but no formal Code of Conduct complaint had been received.

Briggs declined to comment further, including on when and where the comments were allegedly made.

The first Mallett knew of the issue was when he got a message from a Spinoff reporter mid-Monday morning, he said.

Monday's councillor briefing included several warnings about language, mostly swearing.

Mallett said that was unrelated to his alleged comments, but rather because a chairs' meeting earlier in the morning had covered council etiquette.

While councillors were discussing public toilets and changing rooms during the briefing, Mallett commented that they should consult the "deros" because they were people too.

When asked if he could be more careful with his language, he said no.

"You call a shovel a front-end loader," he said.

"You've got to call things what they are."