A man accused of making a Nazi salute outside a Jewish museum has claimed he was copying a Ricky Gervais joke.
Ryan Peter Marshall, 31, said he was making the gesture outside Sydney’s Jewish Museum in Australia last year for “artistic purposes”.
He is one of three people charged with offensive behavior in public and knowingly displaying Nazi symbols following the incident, which came just six days after the Hamas atrocity in Israel last October.
In New South Wales, displaying a Nazi symbol carries a maximum sentence of 12 months in prison and a fine equivalent to £5,620, or both, but there is an exception for artistic reasons.
Australian broadcaster ABC reports that magistrates were shown a video of Gervais giving the salute after hearing that Mitchell had told police he was imitating the comedian and “joking” during his arrest. Co-accused Daniel Muston, 41, told the officer that people had become “very sensitive” these days.
Police prosecutor David Lanton told the court that there was a difference between a comedy show and a salute performed, even as a joke, in public, The Independent reported.
Gervais performs this gag in his 2007 stand-up show, Fame, when he talks about how “Adolf” fell out of fashion as a name, then imitates a teacher making the call – and a child named after him raising his hand. by way of greeting.
He adds: “I’m doing it quickly so no one takes a picture of me doing it. It’s not a traditional comedy topic, the old Holocaust. Magistrate Jennifer Atkinson will deliver her verdict on Marshall, Muston and co-accused Anthony Raymond Mitchell, 32, at a later date.