Call of Duty fan Kim Dotcom has shot himself in the foot on the eve of his Internet Party membership drive launch, admitting he owns a rare signed copy of Adolf Hitler's book Mein Kampf.
In an interview with 3News tonight the German internet entrepreneur said he had bought a signed copy of Hitler's autobiography at an auction four years ago.
"I'm a Call of Duty player right... it's all about World War Two and how you play and I'm a big fan of that. I've bought memorabilia from Churchill, from Stalin, from Hitler."
Mr Dotcom said the copy he owned was one of the first printed and was "probably" the first copy signed by Hitler.
But Mr Dotcom denied his ownership of the book meant he subscribed to Hitler's Nazi ideology.
"Well, let me make it absolutely clear, I'm not buying into the Nazi ideology. I'm totally against what the Nazis did."
"I did buy a cigar holder of Churchill and I did buy a pen of Stalin."
Mr Dotcom said the items including Mein Kampf were "out there and they're worth a lot of money and I think in another 100 years that book will probably go up in value times ten".
"I don't know if it's an ethical investment but I gotta tell you this, if anyone is trying to take this and use this against me, I think it's clearly wrong because you've got to look at who I am, right. I have all this foreign stuff."
Mr Dotcom's admission comes ahead of the Internet Party's membership drive launch tomorrow and may be a bid head off attacks on him and the party given 3News reported that Dotcom's enemies were also aware he owned the book.
It also comes just days after he and Mana Party Leader Hone Harawira confirmed they had been in talks over a potential alliance to contest this year's election.