Count Dankula

Mark Meechan (known as Count Dankula on YouTube[1]) is a "comedian" and a failed UKIP candidate who was arrested[2] for uploading a video where he taught his dog to react to the phrases "Sieg Heil" and "Gas the Jews".[3] Meechan claimed the video was a prank on his girlfriend; the judge called it "grossly offensive and contained menacing, anti-Semitic and racist material" and questioned whether his girlfriend would have seen it, as she didn't subscribe to the YouTube channel it was posted on.[4]

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Meechan was found to be in violation of the 2003 Communications Act and fined £800.[5]

As of February 2021, his YouTube channel has 812k subscribers[6] and his Twitter account has 250k followers.[7]

Supporters

Meechan’s case attracted support from many comedians including Ricky Gervais, David Baddiel, Stephen Fry, Tom Walker and Shappi Khorsandi, although other comedians, such as Omid Djalili, Robert Webb, and Dara O'Briain, were less keen, and some people pointed out how the far right pretend to be "only joking" to legitimise extremist beliefs.[8]

His conviction was followed by a variety of expressions of support ranging from liberals and libertarians to racists and anti-semites and about 500 gathered in London to protest his arrestation.[9] The Liberalists UK (who claim to be an organisation combining liberals of various types from centre-left to centre-right) held an event in support of Meechan in London on April 23.[10][4] Meechan met with far-right leader Tommy Robinson in March 2018, prior to Robinson's jailing.[11] Robinson also protested outside the court when Meechan was sentenced.[12] Meechan spoke at a far-right "March For Freedom" in London on May 6, 2018, alongside Milo Yiannopoulos, Lauren Southern (via video link as she's banned from the UK), and UKIP leader Gerard Batten.[13]

Tory MP Phillip Davies condemned Meechan's conviction in the House of Commons and MEP David Coburn called the ruling "an embarrassment". Other public figures who supported Meechan included Douglas Murray, Rachel Riley, Kenan Malik and the Index on Censorship CEO Jodie Ginsberg.[14]

Aside from the ones mentioned above, most of his supporters are ultra-right-wing freeze-peach warriors. [citation NOT needed]

Politics

Mark was a large supporter of UKIP, campaigning for them in a few videos and going on to run as MEP for Scotland.

In July 2020, he announced on his Twitter that he had joined the Scottish nationalist Scottish Libertarian party.[15][16]

Despite claiming to not be a racist, he was caught posting racist things on a private Discord server, including saying the n-word.[17]

He is vehemently pro-Brexit and has shown heavy interests in it on one of his sarcastic videos[18], figures.

He supports Donald Trump, this is best seen on his Twitter account.

Alt-right

Unlike most internet edgelords, Count Dankula still has not lost his Youtube channel, despite his penchant for unfunny humor.

He is clinically Transphobic and mocked non-binary people on several occasions. If you need an example, there is a Youtube video titled "How Many Genders Are There?" in which he openly mocks the concept of the gender spectrum and non-binary genders by nutpicking the most extreme Tumblr post he could find.[19] On his pro-Brexit video, he is heard saying the following: "The LGBT is no more, all the LGBs got eaten by mutants, but for some reasons the mutants left the Ts alone, so they're the only ones that are left-". This part of the video is a dogwhistle referencing the 'Trans-mafia' that allegedly targets sexual minorities. Additionally, "LGB" is a dogwhistle for TERFs and TERF-adjacent ideologues.

He has made multiple misogynistic jokes on his Youtube channel through the years. One notable example was "Oooh there's no coffee left, guess I'm a woman today." and another one proclaiming that women are not funny.

Involvement in UKIP

In June 2018, Mark Meechan joined UKIP together with plenty of far-right agitators, including Sargon of Akkad, Milo Yiannopoulos and Paul Joseph Watson.

Although Mark would stand as an MEP to represent UKIP, he was not elected by only getting 1.8% of all the votes.

He left in November 2019, due to internal conflicts within the party.[20]

gollark: Jua wasn't invented here, though.
gollark: What's the length limit for signs?
gollark: Instead of "wait for X event" it's "set callbacks for X event + promises".
gollark: node.lua is actually quite good, though.
gollark: <4 <5 <6 <7

See also
  • Neoreactionary

References
  1. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7SeFWZYFmsm1tqWxfuOTPQ/community?disable_polymer=1
  2. Count Dankula found guilty of hate crime after teaching pet pug 'Nazi salute'
  3. M8 Yer Dugs A Nazi
  4. 'Nazi dog' prankster Mark Meechan to ask public for £100k for High Court 'free speech' appeal, The Herald (Glasgow, UK), 24 April 2018
  5. http://www.scotland-judiciary.org.uk/8/1962/PF-v-Mark-Meechan.
  6. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7SeFWZYFmsm1tqWxfuOTPQ
  7. https://twitter.com/CountDankulaTV
  8. The far-right use online jokes to launder right wing ideology, and mainstream comedians are helping them do it, Luke Bailey, i (UK), 28 March 2018
  9. Williams, Martin (23 April 2018). "Row over police filming London protest over Scots 'Nazi dog' creator conviction" - The Sunday Herald
  10. Facebook event
  11. Scottish Libertarians to host protest against conviction of YouTuber who trained ‘Nazi pug’ to salute the phrase ‘gas the Jews’, The Scottish Sun, 21 Mar 2018
  12. Man who taught girlfriend's pet pug dog to perform Nazi salutes fined £800, The Independent, 23 April 2018
  13. 'Day for Freedom' protest in London: Scuffles break out as thousands descend on capital for far-right rally, MSN.com/Evening Standard, 6 May 2018
  14. Tory MP Philip Davies to speak at US men's rights conference - TheGuardian
  17. Calum McKay & Mark Daly, UKIP candidate Mark Meechan linked to racist forum posts, BBC News, 1 May 2019
  18. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkPkebcBzYA
  19. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yO5Hdidlh2g
  20. Count Dankula (11 November 2019). Why I'm Leaving UKIP. - Youtube
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