An online character created to back Humza Yousaf’s controversial new hate crime laws called the ‘Hate Monster’ has attracted widespread ridicule after resurfacing online.
The Hate Monster was created by Police Scotland and launched last year but has only come to prominence this week after a bizarre advert featuring the flurry pink cartoon was shared on social media.
The footage is narrated by a man speaking in Glaswegian dialect, with the character seen ‘growing’ in response to anger before shrinking again.
‘He loves it when you get angry, he’ll make you want to have a go at somebody to show you’re better than them,’ the narrator says. ‘It could be a neighbour, somebody on the street or in the chippy, your taxi driver even. Before you know it, you’ve committed a hate crime.’
The Hate Monster was created by Police Scotland and launched last year but has only come to prominence this week after a bizarre advert featuring the flurry pink cartoon was shared on social media
The character is meant to help back Humza Yousaf’s controversial new hate crime laws
The Scottish Tories called it a ‘pound shop version of a Sesame Street character’
Police Scotland said the character ‘represents that feeling some people get when they are frustrated and angry’ and ‘take it out on others’.
In a post on its website, the force said men aged 18-30 from ‘socially excluded communities’ with ‘ideas about white-male entitlement’ are particularly likely to be perpetrators of hate crimes.
Russell Findlay, justice spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives, said the character was a waste of time and money as well as being ‘grossly offensive’.
‘Police Scotland’s pound shop version of a Sesame Street character to explain Humza Yousaf’s hate crime law should never have seen the light of day,’ he told the Scottish Daily Express.
‘While people rightly ridicule the ludicrous ”hate monster”, the suggestion that people from deprived areas are more likely to commit alleged hate crimes is grossly offensive.’
Calum Steele, former general secretary of the Scottish Police Federation, said: ‘Never forget there would have been meetings, many meetings, & committees, & focus groups, & all other manner of things where this concept was born – nurtured – & finessed before being agreed for release into the world. I can visualise them now.
It comes amid a broader debate over the SNP’s controversial Hate Crime Bill, which for the first time will create an offence of ‘stirring up hatred’.
In a post on its website, Police Scotland said men aged 18-30 from ‘socially excluded communities’ with ‘ideas about white-male entitlement’ are particularly likely to be perpetrators of hate crimes
The laws, which come into force from April 1, apply to acts of ‘hatred’, malice, abuse and/or ill-will against the protected characteristics of disability, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity and age.
Critics fear stage performances and even private conversations at home could fall foul of the laws, meaning someone could be charged with a hate crime for something said over dinner.
The contentious Hate Crime and Public Disorder (Scotland) Act was passed in March 2021 despite fears over what it could mean for freedom of speech and pressures it could put on the police.
To help enforce the law, 450 sites across Scotland have been created as ‘third party reporting centres’ for victims or witnesses of hate crimes – including a mushroom farm and a sex shop.
The sex shop is among the 97 venues in Greater Glasgow classified as third party reporting centres.
The sex shop is among the 97 venues in Greater Glasgow classified as third party reporting centres for the new hate crime laws
The centres are more typically sited in community hubs or premises run by housing associations and charities – but other reporting centres nationwide include a caravan park in Peeblesshire, a mushroom farm in North Berwick, a demolished office block in Dunbartonshire, and a salmon and trout wholesaler in Duns, Berwickshire.
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: ‘The campaign, which is not connected to the new legislation, was developed by Police Scotland using recognised industry practice and ran for six weeks in spring 2023.’
The Scottish Government said in response to questions about the third party reporting centres: ‘Our hate crime strategy commits to review third party reporting arrangements in partnership with Police Scotland, which has already commenced.’
