‘Emperor Blair’: Christchurch terrorist praised Aussie far-right leader Blair Cottrell online before massacre

The terrorist behind the Christchurch massacre praised a well-known Aussie far-right nationalist calling him “Emperor”, it has been revealed.

The suspected terrorist behind the Christchurch massacre praised Australian far-right leader Blair Cottrell online, calling him “Emperor Blair”, it has been revealed.

An investigation by the ABC’s Background Briefingunearthed comments by Brenton-Tarrant on now-deleted Facebook pages run by Australian far-right groups including the United Patriots Front (UPF) and the True Blue Crew (TBC).

The archive of comments acquired by the broadcaster offer insight into the apparent radicalisation of Tarrant.

Tarrant praised leaders of white-nationalist group UPF in posts — in one he called convicted criminal and UPF leader Blair Cottrell, “emperor”.

The program also revealed Cottrell was made aware of someone with the same name as Tarrant donating to the anti-Muslim organisation.

Brenton Tarrant is currently in custody in New Zealand awaiting trial for his involvement in the mass murder of 50 people as they attended last Friday’s prayer services at two mosques in Christchurch. He has been charged with one count of murder and it’s expected further charges will follow.

Tarrant live-streamed his disgusting attacks on a number of social media platforms and following the murders his social media accounts were wiped from the internet.

The mass deletion of his numerous accounts left little trace of Tarrant’s online life before the massacre.

While Tarrant himself claimed he didn’t belong to a specific group in a sickening manifesto published prior to the attacks, the ABC claims an archive of posts that it has verified reveals Tarrant’s allegiance to a number of Australian Australian far-right groups and individuals, including Cottrell.

The broadcaster said there were no screenshots of Tarrant’s comments, but claimed it was able to verify comments occurred by comparing metadata and Facebook IDs against other posts by UPF and TBC supporters.

Newly obtained metadata links comments from Brenton Tarrant to Blair Cottrell’s UPF Facebook group. Picture: Wayne Taylor

Brenton Tarrant was a supporter of Cottrell’s UPF, it has been revealed. Picture: Daniel Pockett

Cottrell, the leader of the UPF, is a convicted arsonist and Nazi sympathiser. The now defunct UPF Facebook group had 120,000 supporters before it was deleted. Tarrant was among the page’s followers.

Following clashes in 2016 between the UPF and counter-protesters in Coburg, Victoria, Tarrant commented, “Communists will get what communists get, I would love to be there holding one end of the rope when you get yours traitor.”

Tarrant also commented on a live-streamed video of Cottrell celebrating the election of Donald Trump.

“Simply one of the most important events in modern history,” he wrote, according to the ABC.

“Globalists and Marxists on suicide watch, patriots and nationalists triumphant — looking forward to Emperor Blair Cottrell coming soon.”

More unearthed metadata saw Tarrant offering effusive praise to Cottrell following a TV appearance months earlier.

“Knocked it out of the park tonight Blair,” the comment read, according to the ABC.

“Your retorts had me smiling, nodding, cheering and often laughing.

“Never believed we would have a true leader of the nationalist movement in Australia, and especially not so early in the game.”

Cottrell has addressed the link, saying he did not know Tarrant personally when confronted with the metadata activity.

“There is no relationship, I didn’t know who he was. And you won’t find any evidence to the contrary,” Cottrell told the ABC.

He said it was possible other members of his group had met Tarrant.

Another far right group, The Lads Society, this week distanced themselves from Tarrant. Following the Christchurch massacre they say they met with ASIO.

ASIO did not confirm this meeting.

The Lads Society said he “did not belong to any group and that he acted alone” but the ABC claim their archives indicate Tarrant was an active member of their group.

On Saturday New Zealand authorities officially banned a manifesto believed to have been written by suspected attacker Tarrant.

Chief censor David Shanks confirmed that the document had been classified as objectionable and banned, the office of film & literature classification.

Describing the manifesto as “a crude booklet that promotes murder and terrorism”, Mr Shanks urged anyone with a copy to destroy it.