FATHER Ted writer Graham Linehan has rejected a face-to-face meeting with Nazi dog creator Mark Meechan as they continued to clash over his 'free speech' appeal to the High Court.
YouTuber Meechan, known as Count Dankula, told Mr Linehan to debate what he says are false claims made about him as the writer continued to question the motives for the Scot's viral film in which he trains his dog to Sieg Heil to the phrase "gas the Jews"
After the Irish comedy writer rejected his invite, Meechan accused him of "defaming me".
The Father Ted writer complained to gofundme.com about Meechan’s appeal to raise £100,000 from the public to pay for his ‘free speech’ appeal to the High Court.
Meechan, 30, from Coatbridge launched the gofundme.com bid after being fined £800 at Airdrie Sheriff Court for communicating a video which was deemed to be "grossly offensive"
The YouTuber has hit back – describing Mr Linehan him as childish, a liar, and saying he would like to educate him on what his politics “really are.”
In a string of Twitter posts directed at the IT Crowd writer, Meechan said: “I want me and him to appear on a live stream on a neutral platform to have an open discussion about all of the claims he has made about me and his attempts to sabotage my appeal, and about the nature of jokes itself.
“He has branded me a white supremacist, a racist and many other things while providing no evidence of such, because there is none, I am none of these things. I wish for me and him to have a discussion so I can educate him on what my politics actually are.
“I do not want to go down the childish route of him calling me names, DMing [Direct Messaging] comedians asking them to pull support from me and also trying to get the fundraiser to challenge this conviction shut down, I want us to have a reasoned discourse.”
He added: “If he accepts we will find a neutral channel to host the discussion. The purpose of this is to educate him on why the lies he is telling are very dangerous to the overall conversation and why principles should not be abandoned just because you don’t like someone.”
But Mr Linehan himself hit back rejecting his invitation and calling the Scot a "white supermacist".
He told Meechan: "Good to know you're keeping the white race going! Oh, I'm sorry, the 'huwhite' race (reference to Jared Taylor, American white supremacist).
"So, no, I won't be coming to any debates, ta. How's the appeal going, by the way?
Nazi dog prankster Mark Meechan reveals he tried to get the sheriff to jail him
"I made jokes about Nazis. He makes jokes *for* Nazis."
Meechan has previously compared his two-year-old M8 Yer Dugs A Nazi video to the Are Your Right There Father Ted? episode in which the main character of the classic comedy ends up in a room full of Nazi memorabilia.
The vlogger, replied: "If you aren't interested in discussion or hearing counter arguments and you still want to go down the road of lying about me and defaming me, that was your choice.
"I have followed you so my DMs (direct messages) are open to you if you change your mind. I only wanted a discussion."
He told his 114,000 followers: "Graham Linehan has cowardly refused discussion of the lies he is spreading about me. He has zero idea of my politics and only uses logical fallacies and lies to support his claims in an attempt to smear and defame me. He is an extremely unreasonable man. Oh well, I tried."
How 'Nazi dog' creator Mark Meechan clashed with Father Ted writer
Mr Linehan had previously clashed with the 30-year-old after the initial verdict when Meechan appeared on the controversial right-wing US media show Info Wars – hosted by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones – alongside English Defence League founder Tommy Robinson.
Meechan, whose controversial video was viewed more than three million times, insists that the video was meant as a joke to wind up his girlfriend Sue Hulk.
Mr Linehan, also known for making major contributions to acclaimed comedy series Big Train and Brass Eye, also took to task satircal reporter Jonathan Pie, originally given a platform by the Russian state-owned news service RT, who proclaimed in his own video that Meechan's film was “just a joke.”
'Nazi dog' prankster Mark Meechan hits back at sheriff
But Meechan hit back by posting a screen shot from what some have dubbed the "accidental facist" Father Ted episode.
He said: "The guy who wrote Father Ted constantly screeches on Twitter about how me making Nazi jokes means I am a Nazi. It seems he has forgotten his own history."
Dozens of supporters of Meechan, including former English Defence League leader Tommy Robinson, were at Airdrie Sheriff Court for the sentencing hearing last week.
As he was being sentenced, in London, hundreds gathered at an anti-censorship march in support of Meechan organised by The Liberalists UK, who describe themselves as a "mix of centre-left (social liberal) and centre-right (classical liberal) individualists".
Sheriff Derek O'Carroll said in sentencing that the video was grossly offensive and that his girlfriend did not even subscribe to the video channel he posted it on.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel