Duncan Garner quits 'foul and putrid' Twitter after 'violent' response to Kmart column

Duncan Garner has decided to quit Twitter after being subjected to "abusive and violent" tweets over the weekend.

On Saturday, Fairfax published a column he wrote, called: 'Dear NZ, how do we want to look in 20 years?'

Garner regaled readers with a tale of going to Kmart to buy some undies and seeing a "human snake" at a self-service counter made up largely of "Indians, Pakistanis, Sri Lankans, Syrians".

He used that "snake" as the basis of an argument that New Zealand is at risk of becoming "an international cot case of broken cities, poor planning, congested highways and stolen dreams" if issues like immigration and infrastructure planning aren't dealt with properly.

But many on social media site Twitter disagreed with the host of Three's The AM Show.

"Kmart needs to ban Duncan Garner, mate go get your undies at the warehouse," wrote @timtoez09.

"Duncan Garner drives his made in Japan car to buy made in India socks goes home to write racist shit on his built by China computer," said @LucyZee_.

The column generated so much reaction - not all of it negative - that both 'Duncan Garner' and 'Kmart' were still trending on Twitter on Monday morning.

On Sunday, Garner used rival social media site Facebook to announce he's quitting Twitter.

On Monday morning's AM Show, Garner elaborated on his decision.

"It's New Zealand's underbelly of militant hate," he said of Twitter. "It's a foul and putrid place to hang out, I reckon. It's full of intolerant, self-appointed pseudo-intellectuals who will not put up with anybody who dare contests an idea in their echo chamber of elitists and anger. That's what they are."

He said his "snake" comment was about the queue, not Asians themselves.

"But somebody concluded I'd called the Asians snakes, and the whole thing went off. I was called a 'racist female dog starting with B', I got the C-bomb, the F-bomb, 'go and die Garner', and the one I was least interested in, 'go and suck a piece of the male's anatomy'. Thank you for the offer, but no thank you. Not today."

He said the point he was trying to make about New Zealand's future was lost in the kerfuffle.

"I saw what was a glimpse into our future... queues everywhere, nothing planned, paradise turned into a debacle. Do we want that? Auckland's already heading this way anyway."

Co-host Mark Richardson, who caused not just social media outrage but international headlines when he suggested bosses should be allowed to ask women about their baby plans, said he was struggling not to laugh at Garner's heel turn.

"I know what it's like to be 'got' by the 'gotcha people', and you've been 'got' well and truly," he told Garner.

"They seem to think they're good people, fighting for what's good - have a look at yourselves, eh."

Garner said if anyone wants to chat, he'll be hanging out on Facebook.

Newshub.