A Melbourne street performer confronted by a far-right leader for wearing a pink mankini while entertaining passers-by has returned to work to rapturous applause.
Daniel Oldaker endured the wrath of Blair Cottrell, the United Patriots Front leader, who took exception with use of the mankini in front of children at the weekend.
Oldaker, known as Dandyman, told The Project on Tuesday night he was ‘a little bit shaken’ by the ordeal and revealed how he felt ‘threatened’ by the confrontation.
Earlier in the day he was back in Federation Square, where he regularly performs, with a huge crowd cheering him on.
Melbourne street performer Daniel Oldaker (wearing the pink mankini) was back entertaining crowds in Federation Square on Tuesday, just days after a confrontation with Blair Cottrell, the United Patriots Front leader
Oldaker (pictured) told The Project on Tuesday night he was ‘a little bit shaken’ by the confrontation with Cottrell at the weekend
‘Having my family and everyone there, the whole community, the circus, theatre and comedy community came together (Tuesday) in Melbourne, it was great,’ he said.
Oldaker said having Cottrell and cohorts shoulder their way past audience members as he told a joke was unacceptable.
‘I just feel that… you want feel safe in your community and Melbourne being obviously the most liveable city in the world you feel like… this shouldn’t be happening,’ he said.
But he praised members of the public who came to his defence.
Oldaker (pictured), clad in a tight pink mankini, had told Cottrell and his cohorts at the weekend ‘I’m doing a show, you idiots!’ and cried out for police
‘It just made me realise that the public are there for us and that the more people are enjoying – and are being part of – the culture of Melbourne and that’s the most important thing,’ he said.
Oldaker said the use of the mankini was ‘a parody on the culture of Australia, on sport, on swimming’.
Cottrell earlier defended his brush with Oldaker and claimed he had a verbal exchange with the performer before the filmed confrontation, and decided to go back after speaking to his colleagues at the pub.
‘There were words exchanged between me and this man before the cameras started rolling,’ Cottrell said in a video filmed inside his group’s gym.
‘He signalled to me and said “You look like you’re holding on to too much masculinity you need to let some of that go”.’
Cottrell claimed Oldaker then took his shirt off and seemed to be trying to involve him in his performance.
‘Then he said to me “Do you want to fight, do you want to fight?” then he shaped up to sort of imitate me,’ Cottrell claimed in the video.
Blair Cottrell (pictured, right), who heads the United Patriots Front, spoke out after video emerged of his group of ultra-nationalist activists interrupting a street act in Melbourne
Far-right activist Blair Cottrell (pictured) confronted street performer Daniel Oldaker in Melbourne’s CBD on the weekend, ordering him to cover up in front of children
‘He laid on the ground and said ‘This is what masculinity does to you guys, you’ll be covered with blood’.’
The United Patriots Front leader claimed he responded by walking away despite being yelled at by Oldaker.
‘I turned around once to see that he was in a pink mankini, looked like a g-string from the front, I thought it was absurd because there were toddlers around,’ Cottrell said.
‘A number of my colleagues were at a nearby pub … I went to inform them of what I saw, by this time I was quite frustrated with what I saw.’
The confrontation took place as dozens of shocked onlookers watched on.
The confrontation occurred in Melbourne’s Federation Square (pictured) – a busy inner-city area that is popular for its public events
‘There’s kids watching,’ Cottrell fumed as he approached Oldaker, in footage uploaded to Facebook.
‘We’re going to turn this guy’s amp off, he’s wearing a g-string in front of kids.’
As the activists approached, Oldaker asked them: ‘Hey how’s it going fellas?’ What’s happening here – do you want to have a fight or something?’
Cottrell said as the music cut out: ‘Cover up, there’s kids here!’ and ‘P*** off, you’re not welcome here’.
Oldaker retorted: ‘I’m doing a show, you idiot!’ and cried out for police.
The vitriol from Cottrell’s camp soon extended to onlookers, with the activists denouncing anyone who spoke up against them as ‘communists’ and ‘f****ts’.
Within minutes the street performer returned with several police officers, who broke up the fracas and calmly asked Cottrell’s crew to move on.