A far-right group which ambushed Iranian-born Labor senator Sam Dastyari with racist taunts in a Melbourne bar is now being sued over a copyright breach.
Streaming service Stan, partly owned by the Nine Network and Fairfax Media, has an issue with its name Patriot Blue, which is also the title of its upcoming series about neo-Nazis.
The series is based on Roadshow Production’s 1992 movie Romper Stomper, starring Russell Crowe as a fascist skinhead who attacks Asians in Melbourne.
A far-right group Patriot Blue posted this video of Ricky Turner harassing Senator Sam Dastyari
Russell Crowe starred in Roadshow Production’s 1992 movie Romper Stomper about racists
Stan and Roadshow released a joint statement condemning convicted stalker Neil Erikson for setting up Facebook pages with the name Patriot Blue.
‘The group involved have misappropriated the name of the fictional group from the series,’ they said on Thursday night.
The media companies have asked law firm Gilbert and Tobin to ‘take appropriate legal action’ over the use of the Patriot Blue trademark on social media.
They said the Wednesday night harassment of Senator Dastyari, at Victoria University in inner-city Footscray, showed the need for a proper discussion on racism.
Logan Spalding (far left) and Ricky Turner harassed Senator Sam Dastyari at Victoria University as he was preparing to discuss his book One Halal of a Story with Labor MP Tim Watts
Patriot Blue founder Neil Erikson is facing legal action for using the name on social media
‘The incident with Senator Dastyari highlights that this is the right time to have an important national conversation about these issues, in a respectful and constructive way,’ Stan and Roadshow said.
Senator Dastyari was buying a white wine and a beer at the university bar shortly after 7pm on Wednesday when Mr Erikson filmed nationalists Ricky Turner and Logan Spalding confronting him.
During that nasty ambush, Mr Turner stood on the right-hand side of the senator and insulting the politician, who drinks alcohol and describes himself as a ‘non-practising Muslim’.
Ricky Turner (left) insisted it wasn’t racist to call Labor senator Sam Dastyari a monkey
Roadshow Productions, the company behind 1992 movie Romper Stomper starring Russell Crowe,
‘You terrorist. You little monkey,’ he said. Why don’t you go back to Iran, you terrorist?.’
Senator Dastyari was preparing to speak about his new book, One Halal of Story, with local federal Labor member Tim Watts.
However, Mr Turner insisted it wasn’t racist to call someone a monkey, arguing he was comparing the Labor senator to shifty primates in Thailand.
‘I’ll give an apology to the monkeys out there because they’re above Sam. Trust me,’ he told A Current Affair on Thursday.
‘That’s not racist at all. A monkey is not a race. It’s an animal.’
Neil Erikson, founder of far-right group Patriot Blue, filmed himself and two friends confronting the Iranian-born politician inside a Melbourne university bar
Mr Erikson said he was entitled to call Mr Dastyari a terrorist because he ‘is the size of a monkey’ and ‘labels anyone racist without evidence’
Mr Erikson said he was entitled to call Mr Dastyari a terrorist because he ‘is the size of a monkey’ and ‘labels anyone racist without evidence.’
‘He labels anyone who he disagrees with as rednecks which itself is a racist term,’ Mr Erikson told Daily Mail Australia.
‘He’s the size of a monkey and if he so easily labels anyone racist without evidence I believe I can call him a terrorist. No regrets.’
He doubled down on his views online, taking to Facebook to write: ‘An Iranian-born senator calls me a racist I’m gonna call him a terrorist – fairs fair.’
‘Monkey can mean 1000 different things, it’s a stretch to believe it was racist,’ he said, also wronly accusing Senator Dastyari of being a dual citizen.
Senator Dastyari moved to Australia when he was four and stripped himself of all links to Iran before running for parliament in 2013.
‘No regrets’: Mr Erikson said he was entitled to call senator Dastyari a terrorist
‘You racist rednecks. You follow me wherever I go’: Mr Dastyari asked the men to leave him
Eriksen said there were no racist connotations attached to the insult ‘monkey’ – explaining it could have meant 1000 different things
Mr Erikson is no stranger to controversy.
In 2015, he took part in a mock beheading outside Bendigo Council to protest against a planned mosque in the western Victorian city.
Joined by United Patriot Front leader Blair Cottrell and fellow supporter Chris Shortis, the trio shouted ‘Allahu akbar! Allahu akbar!’, the Arabic term for ‘God is great’, before fake blood oozed from their prop.
The men were charged in October 2015 with breaching Victoria’s Racial and Religious Tolerance Act, which makes it an offence to incite ‘hatred, serious contempt, revulsion or severe ridicule’ against a group of people.
They were the first high-profile case since a former Labor government introduced the law in January 2002.
In 2014 Mr Eriksen avoided jail time after pleading guilty to stalking a Melbourne Rabbi after making a number of racially-motivated phone calls.
The court heard he told the Jewish leader ‘Give me the money Jew or else I will get you’, as well as threatening to come get him and making fun of circumcision.
In 2015, Ericksen took part in a mock beheading outside Bendigo Council to protest against a planned mosque in the western Victorian city.
‘Why don’t you go back to Iran, you terrorist?’,’ Ricky Turner asked Senator Sam Dastyari