Michigan State has apologized for an image of Adolf Hitler that was depicted on its videoboard prior to Saturday’s college football game against Michigan. The source raises questions.
As both teams took the field for warmups, a video intended to keep fans entertained and active played on the scoreboard. It was a standard quiz game, much like those that air in the movie theater before the trailers or on an iPad screen in the backseat of an uber.
Had that been all, there would have been no issue. That was not all.
On the same day that a Detroit synagogue president was found fatally stabbed outside her home, in a period of time where anti-semitism is incidents are on the rise, the quiz asked an out-of-context question about the birthplace of Hitler. When the video revealed the answer, a large image of the Nazi dictator displayed on the screen for a few moments.
If someone was to see the image without context, it would be incredibly jarring. Even with the context, while maybe not the worst mistake in the world, it was not good at all.
A college football team should not have a picture of Hitler on its scoreboard in any context, period.
The Spartans are in hot water over the incident and were forced to issue a statement. Matt Larson, the associate athletic director of communications, apologized first and foremost. He then proceeded to pass the blame, saying that it was a “third-party source.”
Michigan State did not expand further on the source. It was later discovered online.
Michigan State apparently did not vet the Hitler video.
The video was first posted seven days prior by ‘The Quiz Channel‘ on YouTube.
I’m Floris, the creator & producer of The Quiz Channel. On my channel I launch one new quiz video every week on Friday and I cover a wide range of quiz topics. Popular quizzes on the channel include logo quizzes, music quizzes, Disney quizzes and general knowledge quizzes.
— The Quiz Channel
The specific quiz at the center of controversy, posted on Oct. 13, features 40 questions.
- Question No. 26 asks about the amount of colors in a rainbow.
- Question No. 27 asks the color of Spock’s blood in Star Trek.
- Question No. 28 asks viewers to identify Hitler’s birth country.
An image of Hitler first displays at the 10:42-mark. It stays on the screen for 17 seconds.
For 17 seconds on Saturday night, the scoreboard at Spartan Stadium displayed an image of Hitler.
The Spartans said that a “third-party source” was responsible for the image. That is true.
However, someone had to select the quiz. Whomever that someone was clearly did not screen all 40 questions. And, more than likely, a student employee or intern might have been responsible for finding the pregame scoreboard entertainment. If that is true, someone higher up than the student should have watched it all of the way through before it was approved.
Michigan State made a big mistake! Hitler on the scoreboard simply should not happen.