This article was first published in July 2021.
Comedian Heath 'Chopper' Franklin has recalled issuing a brutal response to the wife of the notorious Australian criminal his persona is based on.
Speaking on The AM Show on Friday morning, Franklin said he had never chatted with Mark 'Chopper' Read before his death in 2013, but did once receive a scathing message from his wife.
"She sent me a tweet asking me how I sleep at night," Franklin said.
"My response was, basically, I haven't murdered lots of people, that helps me get what's pretty close to [a good night's sleep]."
The real-life Chopper was convicted of several crimes including armed robbery, assault and kidnapping. While he wasn't convicted of murder, over the years he claimed to have been involved with the killings of 19 people.
The AM Show host Duncan Garner expressed his surprise that the fake Chopper used Twitter.
"Yeah I tweet, I try not to. It's a silly place for silly people - but you have to stay in the game, don't you," replied Franklin.
"You got these kids these days - you know all the stuff we used to put in our diary? Things you'd keep to yourself, they tweet everything these days. Like, 'I just had cornflakes lol'. What? Who? Why are we reading this?"
Chopper - the comedian - is currently taking his The Silencer tour around Aotearoa.
