A father from Kentucky has apologized after dressing his son up as Adolf Hitler for Halloween and for posing as a Nazi soldier after the pictures of the costumes provoked national fury.
In a photo posted online, Bryant Goldbach can be seen standing next to his son and daughter. He is dressed in a Nazi soldier’s uniform – with its very own swastika. The family then went to a local Halloween event, and he took to social media afterward to share his outrage at those who “threatened” them over their costume choice.
READ MORE: Child’s Hitler Halloween costume unleashes storm of controversy (PHOTO)
“Tonight grown adults threatened a child over his costume. Threatened his mom and dad as well. Threatened to rip his outfit off of him screaming obscenities, scareing (sic) a small child,” he wrote in the now-deleted post. “Anyone who knows us knows that we love history, and often dress the part of historical figures.”
Goldbach’s outfit choice was slammed on social media, with internet sleuths quick to note that the Kentucky dad and ‘history appreciator’ is a member of “a few dozen nazi/right wing groups” on social media. Another pointed out the insensitivity of a costume only days after an attack on Jews in the US. One Twitter user simply called him an “American idiot.”
Since the backlash, it seems that Goldbach has changed his tune. “I think it was in bad taste for me to let my child to wear that, probably for me to wear that,” he told local media WEHT Eyewitness News. “It didn’t occur to me. I thought it was a bad decision on my part.”
In a message to all dressing up on Wednesday for Halloween, Rabbi Gary Mazo from the Temple Adath B’nai Israel warned people to be mindful of their costumes, adding that “the fact that the father apologized is important; the fact he did not know the costumes would be offensive is a very sad reflection on our society.”
The Rabbi then suggested an easy way to not pick an offensive outfit for Halloween: “if your costume calls to mind an event where millions were killed, choose another costume.”
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