Watch: American prankster infiltrates Wellington City Council Zoom meeting

Wellington City councillors sat through nearly three minutes of sobbing and screaming when an American prankster infiltrated a committee Zoom meeting.

Alex Stein, an American with more than 140,000 YouTube subscribers and 100,000 Instagram followers, infiltrated an Annual Plan/Long-term Plan Committee meeting in February under the guise of a public participant.

Committee chairwoman councillor Rebecca Matthews got proceedings underway by introducing Stein – who has been dubbed a “professional troll” – to the committee.

“I would like to welcome Alex Stein, if you’re online, to talk about vaccine mandates,” said Matthews.

Stein said he was a health worker who had moved to New Zealand to be with his Kiwi wife.

“Ever since I got Covid, I’ve been impotent, I haven’t been able to make love to my wife,” he said.

Stein then feigned tears and said his family had left him.

“I miss her so much, I can still smell the vodka on her breath when she kissed me goodbye.”

“You New Zealanders are sick people, why would you do this to me?”

“If you didn’t have these mandates she wouldn’t have left me, I wouldn’t be by myself, crying myself to sleep every night,” howled Stein.

Matthews, who remained cool, calm, and collected, asked Democracy Services to mute the prankster.

But Stein managed to unmute himself and continued speaking.

“No, no don’t do this to me no, Jaaacinda no, Jaaacinda please, pleeeease.”

Stein was eventually removed from the call.

Wellington City Council spokesman Richard MacLean said it was an isolated event.

“It was something no one has experienced before, the reaction of the councillors pretty much sums that up,” he said.

MacLean said the council generally took people at their word.

“Most people who come along to do public participation are passionate about something going on in Wellington.”

Councillor Teri O’Neill, who could be seen fighting back a smile at one point during the prank, said she thought she recognised Stein from the internet.

“I was pretty sure I had seen him prank before,” O’Neill said.

Councillor Sean Rush found the interruption anything but entertaining.

“If council were a court he’d be done for contempt. It really was a misuse of process but it is not clear what can realistically be done without excluding genuine submitters.

“Maybe we need a by-law that allows us to fine time wasters,” he said.

However, Rush could not resist joking about the experience in an email exchange between councillors.

“Impotence is no laughing matter, disgracefully insensitive for those with trouble raising the bar,” he said.

Stein regularly posts videos of himself attending council meetings and pulling similar stunts.

He went viral earlier this year after he posed as a “rapping nurse” in front of Dallas City Hall officials.

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