Tough love from TOP: Joshua Love's rise and fall. A thread:

(1/x)

Joshua Love is a business owner and internet figure with substantial reach on Facebook.

He gained a following through a combination of Facebook ads and shit-posting. He was approached by ACT, NZF, and TOP. He was selected as a TOP candidate for Auckland Central. (2/x)

I wanted to figure out what's been going on the last couple weeks and where it went south. It seems that his social media activity was the end of him. Here's an example:

On the 24th of June, he promoted the following tweet... (3/x)

This tweet got him a bit of flak. A journo chimed in, and long story short, Joshua accused her of corruption and threatened to OIA something. This has been deleted. He released an apology (as below).

He also asked if someone "likes 14yo girls" (4/x)

Now, this isn't the most professional nor the only time he's acted like this. As a result, an internal letter sent to Joshua Love from TOP.

Allegations included showing up to meetings drunk and breaking electoral law.

He responded by posting it publicly to his FB page: (5/x)

He then deleted the letter and uploaded a video tirade, which I have not watched fully. My understanding is that he has resigned from TOP and intends to run as an independent. (6/x) https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=274283417223340

This quickly made the news (7/x)

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2020/07/auckland-the-opportunities-party-candidate-resigns-in-scathing-online-post.html

https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/01-07-2020/explosive-start-for-opportunities-party-campaign-as-candidate-takes-dispute-public/

Obviously, this sucks for Josh but it's ultimately recoverable. Until...

Joshua Love has always been slightly strange in the DMs and acted kinda weird but not quite inappropriately in mine. So it wasn't a surprise when he requested nudes from a supporter. (8/x)

In the article, he also mentions that he treats male and female friends equally and showed a screenshot of his conversation where said another man could send him nudes. He has been posting that on twitter (as a defence???) and it is attached below (9/x)

He is now digging himself into a hole online and posted screenshots of an Instagram conversation with the girl he asked for nudes where they were purportedly flirting

He posted them without censoring initially. I have censored them because it's apparently searchable (10/x)

Now, what's next in this developing story? I'll keep watch and let y'all know. (11/x)

Oh, and he also got an ass tattoo of Simon Bridges doing a nang: (12/x)