A Scottish court has convicted YouTube comedian Mark Meechan, who goes by the screenname Count Dankula, of a hate crime. The crime in question is the posting of a joke video of his girlfriend’s dog giving the Nazi salute.
On April 11, 2016, Meechan posted a video of his girlfriend’s dog, Buddha. The dog had been trained to give the Nazi salute on command and to get excited at the mention of “gas the Jews.” Meechan says that he is not racist but instead wanted to troll his girlfriend. “I thought I would turn him into the least cute thing I could think of, which is a Nazi,” said Meechan. “I’m not a racist, by the way, I just really wanted to piss her off.”
According to Reason, police arrested Meechan under Section 127 of the U.K. Communications Act. The law prohibits “grossly offensive, indecent, obscene, or menacing” electronic communications.
Meechan claimed in his defense that this is about the right to make offensive jokes and for free speech. However, the U.K. does not have anything resembling the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which would’ve protected Meechan’s video.
Before his conviction, Meechan told his fans “If worse comes to worst and everything goes f*****g terribly, keep fighting for free speech, the great meme war.” Meechan remains free on bail at least until his sentencing next month.
While such offensive speech currently protected in the U.S. under the Constitution, there are efforts underway to change that. In recent years, college campuses have become battlegrounds as far-left students and activists have worked to shut down speech from those they oppose. Often, campus radicals have justified their attempts to shout down speech from conservatives through ad hominem attacks. Polling has also shown that young people and college students are more hostile to free speech than older Americans.
AAN Staff
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