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Gervais defends freedom of speech in ‘Nazi dog’ case
Sentence delay with defence appeal plan in pipeline
Comedian Ricky Gervais, pictured below, has expressed support for a Coatbridge man who was found guilty of committing a hate crime when he filmed a dog performing Nazi salutes and uploaded the footage to YouTube.
Markus Meechan recorded Buddha, his girlfriend’s pug, responding to repeated statements such as “gas the Jews” and “Sieg Heil” during the two- minute- long video entitled “M8 yer Dug’s a Nazi”.
The 30-year-old was arrested after complaints were made about the video, which has been viewed more than three million times.
Meechan, who uses the online alias Count Dankula and has more than 146,000 followers, denied the charge and insisted he made the video merely to annoy his girlfriend Suzanne Kelly.
But last week at Airdrie Sheriff Court, Sheriff Derek O’Carroll found him guilty under the Communications Act of posting content that was “anti-Semitic and racist in nature”.
The sheriff didn’t believe Meechan made the video to antagonise his partner, and said he left the clip online in order to drive traffic to other material he had posted.
Sheriff O’Carroll stated: “In my view it is a reasonable conclusion that the video is grossly offensive.
“The description of the video as humorous is no magic wand.
“This court has taken the freedom of expression into consideration.
“But the right to freedom of expression also comes with responsibility.”
The sheriff added: “The accused is an intelligent and articulate man and knew that the material was offensive – and why.
“Despite that, the accused made a video containing anti-Semitic content and he would have known it was grossly offensive to many Jewish people.”
Meechan’s solicitor Ross Brown insisted his client only intended, and expected, the video to be seen by a group of friends.
He also said he believed the phrase “gas the Jews” had been taken out of context and that Jewish comedian David Baddiel had voiced his support for his client.
Mr Brown added: “The accused possesses both tolerant and liberal views. “His girlfriend is in no doubt it was an example of his sense of humour.
“I can see that the video may not be to everyone’s taste.
“Th e court should seek to acquit Mr Meechan for no other reason but to show it is 2018 and not 1984.”
Following the verdict, a defiant Mr Meechan said: “We are going to appeal as there has been a miscarriage of justice.
“I think it is a very dark day in regards to freedom of speech and freedom of expression.
“The thing that was most worrying is that one of the primary things that has to be considered is things like context and intent and that was completely disregarded.
“For any comedians in Britain, be very, very worried about making jokes in future because the context and intent behind them apparently don’t matter any more.”
Referencing Meechan’s conviction, Ricky Gervais tweeted: “If you don’t believe in a person’s right to say things that you might find ‘grossly offensive’, then you don’t believe in freedom of speech.”The Coatbridge man was also supported by former English Defence League leader Tommy Robinson who travelled to Airdrie for the verdict.
He said: “This is the intelligence services, this is the Government, this is the police cracking down and silencing free speech on people who are not even allowed to tell jokes.”
Sheriff O’Carroll deferred sentencing on Meechan until April 23 for background reports and a restriction of liberty assessment.