Count Dankula

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**Markus Meechan** is a Scottish YouTuber, originally from Coatbridge. Meechan, known online as **Count Dankula**, received considerable press coverage when he posted a video of his girlfriend's pug performing a Nazi salute and reacting to the phrase 'gas the Jews?'. The video subsequently resulted in Meechan being arrested and convicted of being "grossly offensive" under the Communications Act 2003 in March 2018, an outcome which in turn generated significant controversy and discussions about free speech. In April 2018, Meechan was fined fuck all since they realised it was a joke.

## Controversy

In April 2016 Meechan posted a video of his girlfriend's pet pug Buddha titled "M8 Yer Dugs A Nazi". He says at the start of the video "My girlfriend is always ranting and raving about how cute and adorable her wee dog is so I thought I would turn him into the least cute thing I could think of, which is a Nazi." In the video, the dog is seen performing a Nazi salute (when prompted by the command "Sieg Heil"), watching a speech by Adolf Hitler, and reacting to the phrase "Gas the Jews".

Meechan was subsequently arrested on suspicion of breaching the Communications Act 2003, despite Meechan claiming that the video was a prank on his girlfriend.

On 19 March 2018 Meechan was convicted of breaching the act by Sheriff Derek O'Carroll at Airdrie Sheriff Court. The court ruled that Meechan's claim that the video was a joke intended for his girlfriend "lacked credibility" as Meechan's girlfriend did not subscribe to the YouTube channel to which the video was posted.

Meechan's conviction subsequently generated controversy concerning the issue of free speech, and multiple media outlets reported that British comedians Ricky Gervais and David Baddiel had made comments supporting Meechan. Others who opposed the prosecution of Meechan included Kenan Malik, Tim Blair, Douglas Murray, Shappi Khorsandi and Stephen Fry. Index on Censorship CEO Jodie Ginsberg stated that the right to free expression must include the right to offend "otherwise the freedom is meaningless".

Comedian Tom Walker, in character as Jonathan Pie, released a viral video which criticized the conviction and contained references to *The Producers*. One of his fans alerted police to the video as an experiment, claiming to be offended. A reply from the Metropolitan Police Service Twitter account, which Pie described as "terrifying", began "It is understandable how this would cause distress" and encouraged the complainant to make a formal report. Graham Linehan, creator of the sitcom *Father Ted*, condemned Meechan, who responded by saying that Linehan's show also contained Nazi-related jokes. Meechan was scrutinised for embracing support from right-wing figures Alex Jones and Tommy Robinson, to which he replied "Imagine totally abandoning protecting human rights, just because someone you don't like is defending them too. Astounding."

UKIP Member of the European Parliament for Scotland, David Coburn, released a two-page statement condemning the ruling as "an embarrassment". Coburn voiced support for Meechan's right to free speech and expressed deep concern over what the precedent set by the ruling could mean for wider society and free speech in general. He also described Meechan's treatment as "horrendous", and pointed out that in his view the issue was not what anyone thought of the joke, but was instead the "authoritarian" reaction to the joke. Coburn's support became viral and received a direct response of gratitude from Meechan on Twitter. Philip Davies, Conservative MP for Shipley, brought up Meechan's case in the House of Commons and said "Can we have a debate about freedom of speech in this country – something this country has long held dear and is in danger of throwing away needlessly?"

Despite the case generating a debate on free speech in the press, Sheriff O'Carroll noted that there were only "very limited" submission from the defence and the prosecution on the matter of the law as it regards freedom of expression, and that because of this the trial was "concerned, ultimately, only with the narrow fact-based question of whether the Crown has proved beyond reasonable doubt that your using a public communications network on one day to post the video onto your video channel, constituted an offence contrary to section 127(1)(a) of the Communications Act 2003", and that the ruling sets no precedent.

On 23 April 2018, Meechan was sentenced to a fine of £800, with no jail time. Approximately 500 people gathered in London to protest for free speech when the sentence was handed out. Meechan started a GoFundMe campaign on 24 April 2018 to raise £100,000 for an appeal and reached his goal as of 25 April. *Forbes* contributor Fruzsina Eordogh suggested that Meechan could clarify his intent in time for the appeal by reaching out to the Scottish Council of Jewish Communities for reconciliation. However, Meechan revealed that the threat of further legal repercussions had already been used to dissuade him from contacting them. In August of 2018, Meechan announced that his request for an appeal had been denied by a member of the Sheriff Appeal Court who also accused Meechan's lawyer of contempt. The letter stated that the appeal was "not arguable" due to the nature of the "deeply unpleasant offence". Meechan stated that he plans to contest the matter with the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission.

On 6 May 2018, Meechan spoke at the *Day For Freedom* rally organized by Tommy Robinson which was characterized as far right. Luke Bailey, who had previously criticized Meechan, called him "the exception to the Islamophobia" and wrote that his speech focused on the importance of freedom of expression.

Meechan's case has been widely compared to that of Chelsea Russell — a British teenager convicted of a hate crime for quoting a song excerpt on Instagram. On May 11 2018, *Reason* contributor Robby Soave cited both cases as examples of government censorship at a briefing of the United States Commission on Civil Rights.

## Personal life

On 16 June 2018, Meechan announced that he had joined UKIP along with fellow YouTubers Carl Benjamin and Paul Joseph Watson in what Watson describes as an attempted "soft coup".

## See also

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* Twitter Joke Trial
* Censorship in the United Kingdom
* Jackie (dog) – Dalmatian taught by its owner to do Nazi salutes. The owner was investigated by Nazi authorities but charges were dropped for lack of evidence.

## References

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## External links

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