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Mark Meechan

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by TheTruthiness (talk | contribs) at 12:49, 27 January 2019 (Undid revision 880411483 by GPRamirez5 (talk) The paper may be notable, this line attacking the other speakers is not- see WP:COATRACK. All he says of Mark's speech was that it was focused on freedom of expression..not notable). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Mark Meechan
Meechan in an interview in December 2017
Born
Markus Meechan

1987 or 1988 (age 36–37)[1]
Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom
NationalityScottish
Other namesCount Dankula
OccupationYouTuber
Political partyUK Independence Party
YouTube information
Subscribers1.07 million Edit this at Wikidata
(March 2024)
100,000 subscribers2018

Markus Meechan is a Scottish YouTuber, originally from Coatbridge.[2][3] Meechan, known online as Count Dankula, received considerable press coverage when he posted a video of a dog raising its paw in the manner of a Nazi salute and reacting to the prompt "gas the Jews?".[4][5][6][7] Meechan was subsequently arrested and convicted of being "grossly offensive" under the Communications Act 2003 in March 2018. This arrest generated controversy and discussions about free speech.[8][9] In April 2018, Meechan was fined £800.[10][11] Meechan has since stated he has not and will not pay the £800 fine,[12] instead donating £800 to the Glasgow Children's Hospital Charity.[13]

Arrest

In April 2016 Meechan posted a video of his girlfriend's pet pug Buddha titled "M8 Yer Dugs A Nazi".[14] 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."[5] 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".[4][5] It ends with images of Adolf Hitler and Buddha having a toothbrush moustache.

Meechan was subsequently arrested on suspicion of breaching the Communications Act 2003.[15] On 19 March 2018 Meechan was convicted of breaching the act by Sheriff Derek O'Carroll at Airdrie Sheriff Court.[16] 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.[16][8]

Following Meechan's conviction, British comedians Ricky Gervais and David Baddiel had made comments supporting Meechan.[17][8][18][15] Others who opposed the prosecution of Meechan included Kenan Malik, Tim Blair, Douglas Murray, Tom Walker, Shappi Khorsandi and Stephen Fry.[19][20][21][22][23] Swedish YouTube comedian PewDiePie also supported Meechan.[24] Index on Censorship CEO Jodie Ginsberg stated that the right to free expression must include the right to offend "otherwise the freedom is meaningless".[11]

Graham Linehan, creator of the sitcom Father Ted, condemned Meechan, who responded by saying that Linehan's show also contained Nazi-related jokes.[25] 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."[25]

UKIP Member of the European Parliament for Scotland, David Coburn, released a two-page statement condemning the ruling as "an embarrassment".[26] 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?"[27]

Despite public attention, 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.[16]

On 23 April 2018, Meechan was sentenced to a fine of £800, with no jail time.[11] Approximately 500 people gathered in London to protest for free speech when the sentence was handed out.[28] Meechan started a GoFundMe campaign on 24 April 2018 to raise £100,000 for an appeal and reached his goal as of 25 April.[29] In August 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.[30]

On 6 May 2018, Meechan spoke at the Day For Freedom free speech rally organized by Tommy Robinson.[31][32][33][34]

Politics

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".[35][36][37]

See also

Wikinews has related news:

References

  1. ^ Sophie Evans (2018-03-20). "Man who taught dog Nazi salute found guilty of hate crime". Coventry Telegraph.
  2. ^ Miller, Graham (2017-07-29). "Coatbridge man who taught his girlfriend's dog to do a Nazi salute faces court". dailyrecord. Retrieved 2018-04-06.
  3. ^ Cramb, Auslan (2018-03-20). "YouTube user convicted of hate crime over pet dog's 'Nazi salutes'". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2018-03-24.
  4. ^ a b Jr, Cleve R. Wootson (2017-09-12). "This video showed a Nazi-saluting dog. Was posting it on YouTube a hate crime?". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2018-03-24.
  5. ^ a b c Reporters, Telegraph (2017-09-12). "Hate crime trial of YouTube user over video of dog 'taught to do Nazi salute'". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2018-03-24.
  6. ^ Norton, Oliver (2016-04-20). "Shocking video shows man training 'Hitler dog' to perform a Nazi salute". mirror. Retrieved 2018-04-28.
  7. ^ "Video of man teaching dog Nazi salute meets outrage". Retrieved 2018-04-28.
  8. ^ a b c "Man guilty of hate crime over 'Nazi pug'". BBC News. 2018-03-20. Retrieved 2018-03-24.
  9. ^ "Man convicted of hate crime for video of dog giving Nazi salute". NY Daily News. Retrieved 2018-03-24.
  10. ^ "YouTuber Count Dankula could face year in jail for Nazi dog video". Newshub. 2017-05-18. Retrieved 2018-07-02.
  11. ^ a b c "Man who filmed girlfriend's dog giving Nazi salutes fined £800". The Independent. 2018-04-23. Retrieved 2018-04-23.
  12. ^ "Young Independence 2018 - Count Dankula". YouTube. Nov 15, 2018. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  13. ^ "Nazi dog Youtuber donates court fine to charity". HeraldScotland. Retrieved 2018-12-14.
  14. ^ M8 Yer Dugs A Nazi on YouTube
  15. ^ a b "YouTuber found guilty of hate crime for teaching pet pug 'Nazi salute'". Evening Standard. Retrieved 2018-03-24.
  16. ^ a b c "PF v Mark Meechan - Judgments & Sentences - Judiciary of Scotland". www.scotland-judiciary.org.uk. Retrieved 2018-04-28.
  17. ^ Malik, Kenan (25 March 2018). "The 'Nazi pug': giving offence is inevitable and often necessary in a plural society - Kenan Malik". The Guardian.
  18. ^ "YouTuber Count Dankula found guilty of hate speech for 'Nazi salute' pug video". 2018-03-20. Retrieved 2018-03-24.
  19. ^ Kenan Malik (2018-03-25). "The 'Nazi pug': giving offence is inevitable and often necessary in a plural society". The Guardian. Retrieved 2018-03-27.
  20. ^ Murray, Douglas (2018-04-23). "The Prosecution of Count Dankula". National Review. Retrieved 2018-05-04.
  21. ^ Shappi Khorsandi (2018-03-23). "The conviction of Count Dankula sets a dangerous precedent for freedom of speech". The Independent. Retrieved 2018-04-08.
  22. ^ "Jonathan Pie Defends YouTuber Convicted for Nazi Pug Video". Yahoo News. 2018-03-26. Retrieved 2018-04-23.
  23. ^ Blair, Tim (2018-04-26). "From being fined to being very fine indeed". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2018-08-27.
  24. ^ "Guess I'm going to jail 8:18". YouTube.com. 2018-03-24.
  25. ^ a b Williams, Martin (27 March 2018). "How 'Nazi dog' creator Mark Meechan clashed with Father Ted writer". Herald. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
  26. ^ "Scots 'Nazi pug' YouTuber gets backing from UKIP MEP David Coburn". The Scottish Sun. 2018-03-27. Retrieved 2018-04-23.
  27. ^ Coulter, Martin (22 March 2018). "Yorkshire MP Philip Davies backs Ricky Gervais in freedom of speech row after YouTuber Count Dankula found guilty of making 'highly offensive' video". Evening Standard. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
  28. ^ Williams, Martin (2018-04-23). "Row over police filming London protest over Scots 'Nazi dog' creator conviction". The Sunday Herald. Retrieved 2018-04-23.
  29. ^ Coulter, Martin (2018-04-26). "Count Dankula GoFundMe: 'Nazi pug' man Mark Meechan raises £100,000 in bid to appeal court conviction". The Evening Standard. Retrieved 2018-04-28.
  30. ^ Dearden, Lizzie (2018-08-08). "Count Dankula: Man who taught pug to do Nazi salute has appeal refused". The Independent. Retrieved 2018-08-10.
  31. ^ Cite error: The named reference bailey was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  32. ^ Grafton-Green, Patrick (6 May 2018). "Scuffles break out as thousands descend on London for far-right rally". Evening Standard. Retrieved 20 November 2018.
  33. ^ Wright, Mic (7 May 2018). "A snowflake crowd at the 'Day for Freedom' protest". GQ UK. Retrieved 20 November 2018.
  34. ^ Strudwick, Patrick (11 May 2018). "The Drag Queen Who Sang At A Far-Right Rally Says Inciting Hatred Shouldn't Be A Crime". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved 20 November 2018.
  35. ^ Count Dankula (16 June 2018). "UKIP Needs You" – via YouTube.
  36. ^ Sommer, Will (26 June 2018). "Far-Right YouTube Stars Plan Takeover of UKIP" – via www.thedailybeast.com.
  37. ^ Walker, Peter (29 June 2018). "Ukip's new guard: web agitators threaten to swamp struggling party". the Guardian.
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