A NEW Zealand TV host has denied being “destroyed”, “rekt” or rendered “basically a broken man” by right-wing activists Lauren Southern and Stefan Molyneux.

But Newsbub’s Patrick Gower admitted being “left speechless” during an interview with the controversial Canadian duo, who arrived in the country last week after a fiery tour of Australia.

In a debate about the merits of free speech and immigration, Gower put it to Southern that her claim that “diversity is weakness” amounted to hate speech.

“New Zealand is a diverse country, you say diversity is a weakness,” he said. “This country is known as a melting pot. Are you saying we’re a weak country?”

Southern responded, “Will you accept the diverse view that women should be stoned for the crime of being raped?” Gower sat in silence for several seconds before asking Southern to “answer the question”.

“Will you accept the diverse view that women should be stoned for the crime of being raped?” Southern repeated. “Because that’s what multiculturalism is, you accept all cultures. You accept people of all diverse opinions. Is a view you believe should be included in this diversity?”

A New Zealand TV host is left completely speechless at @Lauren_Southern breaking down his arguments. I don't think I've ever seen such a 'rekt' moment as this. EVER. pic.twitter.com/WClRm68LT4 — Caolan Robertson (@CaolanRob) August 5, 2018

Here is the interviewer, @patrickgowernz explaining how he was 'scared' of Lauren and how she 'nailed him.' He was definitely not expecting this and is basically now a broken man. 😂 pic.twitter.com/LkFYewHZm9 — Caolan Robertson (@CaolanRob) August 5, 2018

My response to Lauren Southern and Stefan Molyneux.

Read: https://t.co/z6JYitzbqC pic.twitter.com/8ZE6T5kUVD — Patrick Gower (@patrickgowernz) August 7, 2018

Tour producer Caolan Robertson tweeted a video of the exchange, writing, “A New Zealand TV host is left completely speechless at @Lauren_Southern breaking down his arguments. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a ‘rekt’ moment as this. EVER.”

He followed up with a clip of Gower defending himself on The Project NZ. “Here is the interviewer, @patrickgowernz explaining how he was ‘scared’ of Lauren and how she ‘nailed him.’ He was definitely not expecting this and is basically now a broken man.”

In an opinion piece on Tuesday, Gower said he was “not ‘destroyed’ by Lauren Southern and Stefan Molyneux”. “Trust me — I am not broken,” he wrote. “And I am far from wrecked. But, yes, I will admit I was left speechless by Southern.”

He said Southern’s stoning question was “an absurd response” and at the time he was “actually struggling to comprehend it”, leaving him “speechless for around three-and-a-half seconds”.

“To me, ‘diversity’ means a country built by explorers, by people who come here from every corner of the world to make a life for themselves,” he said.

“It means accepting the cultures of others and growing that acceptance through common decency. To me the concept of ‘diversity’ does not mean accepting the worst of the world’s extremes. It means making the best of everything in between.”

That’s why he was “quite taken aback by Southern’s response — which of course was designed to shock”. “There is nothing clever about this ‘tactic’, it’s actually pretty juvenile,” he said.

Gower said Newshub “extended Southern and Molyneux the courtesy of an interview” after their Auckland event was cancelled at the last minute by the venue, but “they chose to take that courtesy and twist it”.

“From the moment they arrived at Newshub, I had a feeling what was coming,” he said. “They just had a very confrontational vibe, which was a bit scary — it is not the Kiwi way.”

Last week, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern welcomed the cancellation of the event, saying the country wasn’t hostile to free speech but “we’re hostile to their views”.

“They’re here because there were no grounds to block them being here, that does not mean we welcome their views,” she said. “I think you’ll see from the reaction they’ve had from New Zealanders that their views are not those that are shared by this country and I’m quite proud of that.”

frank.chung@news.com.au