{"id":358123,"date":"2018-04-24T01:30:14","date_gmt":"2018-04-24T00:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/newswire\/nazi-saluting-pug-trainer-count-dankula-fined-for-online-video-rt-uk-news\/"},"modified":"2018-04-24T01:30:14","modified_gmt":"2018-04-24T00:30:14","slug":"nazi-saluting-pug-trainer-count-dankula-fined-for-online-video-rt-uk-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/newswire\/nazi-saluting-pug-trainer-count-dankula-fined-for-online-video-rt-uk-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Nazi saluting pug trainer \u2018Count Dankula\u2019 fined for online video \u2014 RT UK News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdni.rt.com\/files\/2018.04\/thumbnail\/5addbba9fc7e93ed7b8b457e.png\" \/><\/p>\n<p>        A man who filmed his pug doing a Nazi salute before posting the footage on YouTube has been fined \u00a3800. The case sparked a massive debate on free speech, with high-profile figures such as Ricky Gervais also weighing in.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Mark Meechan \u2013 also known as Count Dankula \u2013 posted a clip of his girlfriend\u2019s pug, named Buddha, responding to phrases such as<em> \u201cgas the Jews\u201d<\/em> and <em>\u201cSieg Heil.\u201d<\/em> He was found guilty at Airdrie Sheriff Court last month of committing a hate crime.<\/p>\n<p>Meechan denied any wrongdoing and said he made the video \u2013 which got more than three million views when posted on the video streaming platform \u2013 to annoy his girlfriend. But under the Communications Act, Sheriff Derek O\u2019Carroll found Meechan guilty of posting grossly offensive material as it was <em>\u201canti-Semitic and racist in nature.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rt.com\/uk\/422326-nazi-pug-count-dankula\/\">READ MORE:\u00a0\u2018No Nazi apologist\u2019: Jonathan Pie hits back at Graham Linehan over Count Dankula Nazi pug case<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em\/>The case stirred a massive debate on the right to freedom of speech in the UK. High-profile figures, including comedian Ricky Gervais, took to Meechan\u2019s defense, saying:<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cA man has been convicted in a UK court of making a joke that was deemed \u2018grossly offensive.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"900\" height=\"506\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ti2bVS40cz0\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; encrypted-media\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cIf you don\u2019t believe in a person\u2019s right to say things that you might find \u2018grossly offensive,\u2019 then you don\u2019t believe in Freedom of Speech.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Comedian Jonathan Pie watered down claims of Count Dankula\u2019s video being <em>\u201cgrossly offensive,\u201d<\/em> arguing it was <em>\u201cjust a joke.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>In a video on his YouTube channel, Pie, a one-time RT employee who rose to fame for his satirical reporting, highlighted the fact that many viewers found the video funny as they left comments such as <em>\u201cLOL,\u201d<\/em> before adding that <em>\u201coffence and humour are subjective.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>If you like this story, share it with a friend!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Via <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rt.com\/uk\/424862-nazi-pug-dankula-fined\/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=RSS\">RT<\/a>. This piece was reprinted by <a href=\"http:\/\/rinf.com\">RINF Alternative News<\/a> with permission or license.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A man who filmed his pug doing a Nazi salute before posting the footage on YouTube has been fined \u00a3800. The case sparked a massive debate on free speech, with high-profile figures such as Ricky Gervais also weighing in. Mark Meechan \u2013 also known as Count Dankula \u2013 posted a clip of his girlfriend\u2019s pug, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":358124,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[519],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-358123","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-newswire"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=358123"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358123\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/358124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=358123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=358123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=358123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}