YouTube star Spanian has been called out after a video posted to social media captured his true feelings about a fan approaching him in public.
Anthony Lees, 37, who is better known by his nickname Spanian, was approached by a woman before he walked into a Sydney pub.
She politely said: ‘You have a YouTube channel right? My boyfriend watches your videos.’
Spanian walked into the pub without responding, but was then filmed in the pokie room after getting some advice from his cameraman.
‘So I should be more social with people cause I act like I didn’t care?’ Spanian said.
‘That’s the thing brother, I acted exactly how I felt which is like I didn’t care.
‘I didn’t ask a question, I didn’t ask to hear about her husband’s viewing habits.
‘I’ve got my own life to live, so if I acted like I didn’t care it’s cause I don’t f***ing care.
‘Do you think I’m running for Parliament?
‘I’m from jail, who do you think you’re watching mate? Get with the program.’
YouTuber Anthony Lees, better known as Spanian, vented his frustrations at constantly being recognised by fans on the street in a foul-mouthed video
In another video, Spanian revealed his frustration when fans recognised him on the street while he was having a night out.
‘I’m not going to stop and get a selfie with every single person who recognises me.
‘If they’re kids I’m gonna say yes.
‘But if they’re adults, you’ll think I’m rude, but I’m not stopping for selfies with every 30-year-old I see.’
Many Aussies slammed Spanian and claimed he was ungrateful to his fans who made him famous.
‘Be very careful, the same people can switch you off,’ one said.
‘I saw him in the city a few weeks ago, all I said was ‘hey Spanian’, and he completely ignored me – just pretended like I wasn’t there,’ another said.
‘Well, well, well, now he doesn’t want attention,’ added a third.
A fourth said: ‘He can’t handle the fame.’
‘When you make money off these people then you should care. Cause you will go downhill, and so will your socials, and so will your kebabs,’ a fifth said.
In his latest venture, the ex-criminal opened a food truck selling kebabs around Sydney.
Spanian with his wife Angela McColl (left) and his food truck venture Spanian’s Kebabs (right)
But other Aussies were quick to defend him.
‘He is who he is, take it or leave it. He’s just straight-up real, and that’s rare these days,’ one said.
‘To all the crybabies, like Spanian wasn’t 10x worse a few years back. Like he said, ‘who do you think you’re watching, mate’,’ a second added.
Spanian spent a total of 13 years in prison before the age of 30 for various offences including a ram raid on an ATM, assaults and drug distribution.
After his release, he briefly tried his hand at a career as a drill rapper before finding a large audience posting videos on YouTube.
He released an autobiography in 2021, but it was quickly dropped by his publisher over controversial comments he made about the LGBTQI+ World Pride events, claiming that an agenda was being pushed to children.
In the book, he wrote: ‘It’s not as simple as leaving jail and moving on with your life, it sticks with you.
‘I can’t get rid of it, I’m anti-social and completely non-compliant with the outside world.’