A far-right Australian nationalist and Hitler sympathiser who made vile comments about raping a news presenter has been banned from Twitter.
Blair Cottrell, 27, was told he had violated the rules of the social media site on Tuesday following a series of tweets about his appearance on Sky News on Sunday.
The former leader of the far-right protest group United Patriots Front described the ban as ‘insane censorship’ amid media outrage over the controversial interview.
Sky News was slammed for hosting a softball interview with Cottrell, a convicted criminal who has reportedly called for Hitler’s portrait to be hung in every Australian classroom.
Blair Cottrell (pictured at an anti-mosque rally), 27, was told he had violated the rules of social media site Twitter on Tuesday

Despite being heavily criticised for his comments about raping Sky News political reporter Laura Jayes (pictured), Cottrell has refused to apologise and lashed out instead


The former leader of the far-right protest group United Patriots Front described the ban (pictured, above) as ‘insane censorship’ amid media outrage over the controversial interview
‘Twitter just banned me for a week for no apparent reason,’ he wrote on Facebook on Tuesday night.
‘I honestly don’t care, I’m just making sure you see how insane this censorship is and how it’s all linked in with the media.’
Despite being heavily criticised for his comments about raping Sky News political reporter Laura Jayes, Cottrell has refused to apologise and lashed out instead.
Claiming he was ‘too articulate’ to be engaged with, Cottrell complained about being the victim of a censorship campaign by the ‘controlled media’ before his ban.
Sky News backpedalled after the interview with Cottrell on Sunday night, hosted by former Northern Territory Country Liberal Party chief minister Adam Giles.
Videos of the interview were scrubbed from social media, and News Director Greg Byrnes apologised, saying it was wrong to give Cottrell airtime.

Cottrell’s appearance was slammed by a number of Sky News employees including Ms Jayes

Sky News backpedalled after the interview with Cottrell on Sunday night, hosted by former Northern Territory Country Liberal Party chief minister Adam Giles
Cottrell’s appearance was slammed by a number of Sky News employees including Ms Jayes, who described him as a ‘far right-wing fascist who’s a self confessed Hitler fan’.
Cottrell responded by tweeting: ‘I might as well have raped Laura Jayes on the air, not only would she have been happier with that, but the reaction would’ve been the same.’
‘It’s pretty sad that my response to that news reporter may have been taken as an actual threat. It was obviously an ironic statement,’ Cottrell told Daily Mail Australia.
The Adam Giles program has since been suspended by Sky News, and Cottrell was banned from the channel by outgoing CEO Angelos Frangopoulos.
Former Labor minister Craig Emerson quit as a Sky News commentator amid the fallout over the interview, and American Express suspended its advertising.
Last year Cottrell was convicted of inciting contempt, revulsion or ridicule of Muslims for the 2015 beheading of a dummy in protest of a mosque in Bendigo.

He has openly and repeatedly expressed admiration for Adolf Hitler on social media, and published rants about Jews, Muslims and women. In later videos, he has distanced himself from some of these positions – claiming they were posted by a fake account

Last year Cottrell was convicted of inciting contempt, revulsion or ridicule of Muslims for the 2015 beheading of a dummy in protest of a mosque in Bendigo (pictured)
He has served time in prison for stalking his ex-girlfriend, throwing a missile and intentionally damaging property.
Cottrell also has convictions for aggravated burglary, attempting to burn down his ex-girlfriend’s partners house, arson, weapons possession, testosterone trafficking and property damage.
He has openly and repeatedly expressed admiration for Adolf Hitler on social media, and published rants about Jews, Muslims and women.
‘There should be a picture of this man [Hitler] in every classroom and every school and his book should be issued to every student annually,’ he wrote on Facebook, later claiming the post came from a fake account.
‘Women have manipulated me using sex and emotion; demoralization, and I have manipulated them using violence and terror,’ he said in another post.

Cottrell (pictured) has served time in prison for stalking his ex-girlfriend, throwing a missile and intentionally damaging property