A heated exchange between Act leader David Seymour and Lee Williams, the man who lost his job because of the far-right content of his channel, has been posted online after the two men attended an Act Party event in Ashburton.
Williams, who was recently fired from Synlait after being accused of spreading extreme white supremacist material online, angrily approached Seymour, telling him he is not "standing up for freedom".
"You're saying it's okay if 10,000 people sign a petition to get a man sacked from his job and destroyed and cancelled - you're saying that's okay?" Williams asked Seymour on Thursday night.
The Act Party leader remained calm but distanced himself from Williams' views, telling him he needed to ask himself why 10,000 people felt that way and signed that petition.
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Advertise with NZME.Seymour also said Williams had a "choice" and was now facing the consequences of his actions.
"People make choices, you've made your choices," Seymour told him.
"I was expressing my freedom," Williams responded.
"It has consequences, and now you're suffering the consequences of your actions," Seymour told him.
The YouTuber called Seymour a "fake" and "a bloody fraud" and said that "Māori will own 50 per cent of the country by 2040".
The man then turned to the crowd and introduced himself under the name of his YouTube channel, as well as Lee Williams.
"You're an idiot, mate," Seymour responded, while others in the crowd told Williams to go home.
"You're making a d***head of yourself," people in the crowd told Williams, as Seymour walked away from him as he continued to shout.
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Advertise with NZME.Williams was fired from his job at Synlait last month after a petition calling on the firm to "stop employing white supremacists" gained more than 7700 signatures.
