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There’s an extraordinary story in the Scottish Mail today: UKIP activist Mark Meechan (AKA “Count Dankula”) has been given a job on a BBC programme. Here’s a thread on why this is an incredible decision for the BBC to have taken... 
1. Meechan is an online "comedian" best known for a video in which he repeatedly uses phrases like “gas the jews” as a prompt to get a pug to perform a Hitler salute. He was convicted of causing "gross offence" under the Communications Act in April last year.
2. The trial made Meechan a symbol for the far right, which has capitalised on his trial. He has done interviews with 'Tommy Robinson', Lauren Southern, Gavin McInness, Milo Yiannopoulos, Rebel Media and Alex Jones.
3. Meechan also addressed the gloriously misnamed "Day for Freedom" event in May last year. Read our write up here: hopenothate.org.uk/2018/05/11/day…
4. Count Dankula is now a UKIP and functions as a recruiter for Gerard Batten's explicitly far-right party, along with a cohort of extreme online figures ⤵️ hopenothate.org.uk/2018/06/27/isn…
5. Meechan is happy to do video streams with openly racist YouTubers, such as white nationalist Colin Robertson (Millennial Woes) hopenothate.org.uk/2018/10/08/uki…
The BBC's decision to give Meechan a platform on their digital channel is bizarre, and they should rethink it.
