Ahead of his lecture tour in Australia and New Zealand, the controversial thinker and YouTube sage was labelled "reactionary and misogynist". The negative publicity, however, didn't stop his devoted fans.

Canadian psychologist and Toronto University Professor Jordan Peterson, who has spent the past few months touring his self-help best-seller "12 Rules for Life", has received a warm welcome in New Zealand, the outlet News Hub reported.

According to News Hub, New Zealander fans of the controversial psychologist-turned-philosopher, who offers a set of guidelines for how to live a meaningful life, turned out in full force for Peterson's four shows in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch the past week.

The campaign against Peterson, organised by grassroots anti-war and pro-social justice movement Auckland Peace Action, which condemned Peterson's views as "reactionary and misogynistic", as well as "utterly in opposition to New Zealand values", failed to put off crowds.

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New Zealanders interviewed by News Hub had trouble explaining his fame and notoriety. One female fan praised Peterson's "way of expression", calling it very realistic, and commended him for never being afraid of haters and always speaking his mind. Another lauded Peterson's habit of combining "psychological theories and archetypal knowledge" in a way that helps people articulate their own thoughts and understand the world better.

Another fan admitted that Peterson's teachings had helped him to "get his s**t together" and ditch his addiction.

Yet another stressed that Peterson isn't afraid of going against the grain, but "always backs up his claims with a lot of evidence".

Peterson's New Zealander fans attributed his negative publicity to him being "absolutely misrepresented and misquoted all the time". People are not reacting to him personally, but rather to something they've heard about him, a man interviewed by News Hub said.

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Peterson rose to fame in 2017 by opposing modern feminism pushed to the extreme and mandatory state-enforced gender-neutral language. The professor is also a staunch free speech advocate and critic of Marxism, Communism and social justice ideology.

While earning the moniker of "the most influential public intellectual in the Western world" from The New York Times, Peterson has also drawn a lot of rebuke from left-leaning liberals, whose gripe against him is that he supposedly "promotes the patriarchy" and "condones intolerance".