Australians could not deal with ads in a language other than English.

An Australian telco company staffer named "Dan" has become a national hero, in the wake of a racist backlash over ads labelled "disgusting" - because they were written in Arabic.

Optus rolled out the ads late last year, to tell potential customers that a nearby store had staff who spoke Arabic, while staff elsewhere spoke other languages.

But the company was forced to temporarily remove one Sydney sign after staff were threatened by members of the public outraged that advertising could be in any other language but English.

FACEBOOK Social media users say Dan should be prime minister, or Australian of the Year.

Critics lost the plot on Optus' Facebook page, calling the company "a disgrace" and demanding the signs be taken down.

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FACEBOOK Ever-polite Dan resisted schooling Virgil on his missing commas.

"This is an outrage. This is Australia not Syria. You are hypocrites, saying sorry for Paris etc etc but advertising only for Muslims to read," Natalie Charters wrote on Optus' page.

"All people who live here are required to read speak understand English," wrote Virgil Tracey, his own English grammar left wanting. "All advertising should be in English. Australians do not care about your previous religion or background."

"This is a Australia not Islam," Linda Ashenden, who was almost certainly not a geographer, added.

FACEBOOK Dan was hailed as a hero for his patient responses.

But amid the wave of intolerance, Optus' patient social media staff triumphed.

"Dan" was praised for his "polite burns", including explaining to outraged social media users that Australia doesn't actually have an official language - although it did have 200 native languages before English.

"Australia has a history of welcoming people of all nations, and we're proud to be able to extend that welcome to everybody, regardless of the language they speak," he replied.

Dan was now being hailed as a future prime minister, with social media users asking if they can take him on a date.

"Bravo on the polite burn, singlehandedly schooling bigots and racists and showing the compassion this fair country has had. Remember, besides the indigenous custodians of this land, we were once ALL immigrants that spoke a different language! Hell, I'll vote for him to be PM!," Reuben Cheok wrote.

"Dan from Optus is the hero we need," Stephanie Monteith said.

Jesse Mahoney agreed: "Dan is an every day hero. It is a pleasure to be a customer of a progressive company who allows such an intelligent individual to share his views via well thought out responses. Australian of the year 2017 material I think!"

In conclusion: #owned.

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