YouTube Comedian Count Dankula Convicted over ‘Grossly Offensive’ Nazi Salute Dog Video

A man who posted a video of his girlfriend’s dog doing a Nazi salute on YouTube has been been convicted over the “grossly offensive” footage.

Mark Meechan, 29, who goes by the name Count Dankula, was arrested in April 2017 after footage of his girlfriend’s pug appearing to respond to Nazi slogans such as ‘gas the Jews’ went viral.

In a case that attracted widespread attention, Meechan was found guilty on Tuesday at Airdrie Sheriff Court of a charge under the Communications Act 2003.

Sheriff Derek O’Carroll dubbed the video “grossly offensive” and said he did not believe Meechan’s defence that he had made it only to annoy his girlfriend.

Prosecutors accused Meechan of posting material that was ‘anti-semitic and racist in nature’ and was aggravated by religious prejudice.

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“I think it’s a very, 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 in any action that is to be considered is things like context and intent, and today context and intent were completely disregarded.

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“For any comedians in Britain, I would be very worried about making jokes in future because your context and intent behind them apparently don’t matter anymore

“I made the video to annoy my girlfriend and that is the reality.”

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