A grinning minister in pop star Harry Styles’ latest music video can be revealed as a former Brexit Party candidate who made Islamophobic remarks online.
David Ballantine branded Islam a “child rapist death cult” and was deported from Dubai after being accused of dodging a taxi fare.
The Scot appears in the video for the One Direction star’s song Adore You, which has been seen 20million times on YouTube since last month.
The video was partly filmed at Port Seton and Cockenzie in East Lothian, as well at St Abbs, near Eyemouth.
Ballantine plays a bearded minister who marries a couple.
But the real man is a long way from the genial character seen on screen.
Ballantine is behind “Guerilla TV” on YouTube, a platform he uses to mouth right-wing opinions.
In one video, he claims there are parts of England where the “indigenous population” is being “completely replaced”.
He also praises far-right thug Tommy Robinson and brands Islam “a theocratically fascist system of governance”.
He adds: “Those that follow a child rapist death cult, which is Islam, don’t have a point of reference for the rest of us.”
The ex-stockbroker was a Scots Tory council candidate in the 90s but failed to get elected.
He was involved with the Scottish Libertarian party and won 625 votes for the Brexit Party in Edinburgh South West at the general election.
He was jailed in Dubai for failing to pay a taxi driver in 2013.
Asked about the video, Ballantine told this newspaper there is a picture of him online laughing with Styles.
He added: “I was enjoying myself. I don’t know if young Harry was.”
Asked about his comments, he said: “Are you guys pro-Islam?”
Labour MSP Anas Sarwar, chair of Holyrood’s cross-party group on tackling Islamophobia, said: “There should be no place in society for anti-Muslim hatred. Ballantine’s comments are Islamophobic and designed to spread hate and prejudice.”
