Undercover video in Melbourne backfires for right-wing provocateur

Ben Graham news.com.au

Canadian right-wing mouthpiece Lauren Southern said she wanted to cause “chaos” in Australia with her controversial opinions on multiculturalism and Islam. But, when she actually spoke to Aussies on the street, she was met with sarcasm, indifference and confusion.

Bumbling her way through a series of awkward interviews on the streets of Melbourne this week, the 23-year-old — who landed in Australia wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the words “It’s OK to be white” — learnt a lesson in Aussie temperament the hard way.

In a five-minute clip, which she proudly uploaded onto her YouTube page on Wednesday, she wanders the streets of the Victorian capital, supposedly undercover, asking “Should we kill Lauren Southern?” in a desperate attempt to stir up outrage.

However, the interviews don’t exactly provide her with the death threats and fireworks she was looking for.

“I don’t know who that is to be honest,” responds one of the interviewees, which becomes a recurring theme throughout the clip.

Clearly looking for young, left-leaning students to get a rise out of, she then has to explain to them who Lauren Southern is in the third person, as she is supposed to be in disguise.

When explained to them that she is a “fascist and a racist”, some offer sarcastic responses that she should be made to speak while being hung upside-down or she should be pumped full of fentanyl so she would have a “really bad trip for the rest of her life”.

However, since Ms Southern’s disguise amounted to her pretending she was Australian, a couple of the Aussies she spoke to inevitably recognised her — and they still didn’t seem outraged.

Loudly laughing throughout the piece, she can be seen trying to find members of anti-fascist protest group Antifa — based on people’s appearance.

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“I think we found a wild Antifa, I think they’re across the street,” she says excitedly to the camera, as if she is making a wildlife documentary.

She then breaks into the worst Aussie accent ever committed to camera as she is surrounded by her beefy security guards.

“Oi, crikey,” she says before walking over to the “live Antifa” members, who turn out to be two Asian blokes minding their own business, having a smoke.

“No that’s just Asian fashion,” she says, brazenly laughing at them as she gets closer. “It’s just Asian fashion that looks like Antifa.”

However, Ms Southern saves the most awkward moment for the end of the clip, when she approaches two women who look utterly bemused by the entire scenario.

“Should we kill Lauren Southern?” Ms Southern asks them.

“Aren’t you her?” one of the women responds.

“No she’s a fascist,” Ms Southern blusters in response.

“I’m pretty sure it’s her,” the interviewee says, looking at her partner with a quizzical look on her face.

The social media provocateur keeps up the pretence and tries to make a joke that all blond people look the same, but the cutting-edge comedy has no effect on the baffled Aussies who just start to walk away.

“She is a fascist and a racist as well,” the interviewee says as she nonchalantly walks away from the Canadian firebrand.

“No one should be killed,” her partner adds.

Despite the car-crash interview and botched disguise spectacularly backfiring, Ms Southern bursts into a fit of laughter — acting as if she intimidated them and forced them to run off in fear.

“I loved the terrified look in her eyes,” she shrieks at the camera before rounding up the bizarre clip.

The video comes as Victoria Police slapped the right-wing activist with a $68,000 bill ahead of her controversial show in Melbourne tonight.

According to the Herald Sun, the bill will cover the cost of a massive uniformed police presence at the event, which is expected to draw potentially violent protesters.

After violent activists turned Melbourne streets into a war zone during a talk by right-wing speaker Milo Yiannopoulos six months ago, he was also sent a $50,000 bill to cover the heavy police presence.

Before she touched down in Australia this week, Ms Southern told news.com.au she warned she would cause “chaos”.

The alt-right YouTube star has been making daily headlines since she touched down.

On Saturday she appeared on Sky News,making it clear that she was “happy to be white”.

“If I were black I could say I’m proud, if I were Asian I could say I’m proud, if I were any other ethnicity I could say I’m proud because that’s how our culture is, but if I’m white and I say I’m proud the media will go nuts,” she said.

Ms Southern, who previously worked for Canadian website Rebel Media, was barred from entering the UK earlier this year for distributing “racist” flyers reading “Allah is a Gay God” and “Allah is trans” outside a restaurant in the English town of Luton.