Paul Joseph Watson made the offer on Wednesday, in response to criticism of US President Donald Trump for making false claims about crime in Sweden.

Watson's pledge has since been met with a wave of replies from people willing to make the trip, including comedian Al Murray, broadcaster Matthew Sweet, and Vanity Fair's Kurt Eichenwald.

“Can I bring my wife too? I'm excited!” Eichenwald asked eagerly in response:

Malmö’s deputy mayor Nils Karlsson even responded, saying he would be happy to meet any journalists sent to the city.

Watson has since donated $2,000 to one journalist, US-based Tim Pool, who is crowd-funding an investigative trip to Sweden. The rest of the willing travellers seem destined to be disappointed, however.

The rush to grab a paid trip to Malmö is one of the more light-hearted consequences of the spotlight being thrust on Sweden this week in the wake of US President Trump's bizarre comments last Saturday, which implied a non-existent serious incident had taken place in the country the day before.

Trump later clarified by saying that his statement was in reference to a story on Fox News. The story, an interview with filmmaker Ami Horowitz claiming there had been a “surge in both gun violence and rape in Sweden since it began its open door policy,” has since been derided for its factual inaccuracies, and the police officers interviewed for it claim their quotes were taken out of context.

Horowitz denies that their answers were manipulated however, telling Fox News on Monday:

“I’ve never had a subject claim, and certainly not prove, that I ever misled them or ever doctored the footage. It’s never happened before. So my record stands for itself, and what you saw on that video clear as day stands for itself.”