{"id":14703,"date":"2025-10-21T22:16:39","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T22:16:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/platner-says-hell-remove-tattoo-that-resembles-nazi-symbol\/"},"modified":"2025-10-21T22:16:39","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T22:16:39","slug":"platner-says-hell-remove-tattoo-that-resembles-nazi-symbol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/platner-says-hell-remove-tattoo-that-resembles-nazi-symbol\/","title":{"rendered":"Platner says he\u2019ll remove tattoo that resembles Nazi symbol"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Democratic Maine Senate hopeful Graham Platner expressed regret over getting a tattoo that appears similar to a Nazi symbol nearly two decades ago and plans to have it removed, his latest mea culpa after a week of damning headlines over resurfaced social media posts.<\/p>\n

Platner\u2019s campaign sought to front-run opposition research about his tattoo \u2014 which resembles a Nazi skull and crossbones \u2014 during an appearance on the liberal podcast Pod Save America on Monday, with his campaign sharing a video of him dancing shirtless<\/u><\/a>. Platner said he had no idea of any Nazi link when he got the tattoo.<\/p>\n

“It was not until I started hearing from reporters and DC insiders that I realized this tattoo resembled a Nazi symbol,\u201d Platner said in a statement to Blue Light News on Tuesday. \u201cI absolutely would not have gone through life having this on my chest if I knew that \u2014 and to insinuate that I did is disgusting. I am already planning to get this removed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Platner reiterated that he got the tattoo while out drinking with fellow Marines in Croatia, choosing the skull and crossbones off a wall at the tattoo parlor. He said the similarity to Nazi iconography never came up, including when he underwent physical exams mandated by the U.S. Army, which prohibits tattoos of identified hate symbols.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the nearly 20 years since, this hasn\u2019t come up,\u201d Platner said. \u201cI enlisted in the Army which involved a full physical that examines tattoos for hate symbols. I also passed a full background check to receive a security clearance to join the Ambassador to Afghanistan\u2019s security detail.\u201d<\/p>\n

Platner\u2019s statement that he would get the tattoo removed came after questions were raised, including from a former top campaign staffer, about how he could have been unaware of the tattoo\u2019s connotations.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe he didn\u2019t know it when he got it, but he got it years ago and he should have had it covered up because he knows damn well what it means,\u201d Platner\u2019s former political director, Genevieve McDonald, wrote on Facebook.<\/p>\n

McDonald, a former Democratic state lawmaker, resigned from the campaign last week<\/u><\/a> after revelations about Platner\u2019s numerous controversial posts on Reddit.<\/p>\n

Jewish Insider also reported on Tuesday<\/u><\/a> that an acquaintance of Platner recalled him referring to the tattoo as \u201cmy Totenkopf,\u201d though Blue Light News has not independently verified the reporting.<\/p>\n

\u201cTotenkopf\u201d is a German word typically referring to an image of a skull and crossbones. During the Nazi era, one form of the image was adopted by the Nazi police, leading to a lasting association with Nazism and continued use by white supremacists, according to the Anti-Defamation League<\/u><\/a>. Platner\u2019s campaign did not specifically answer whether he had ever used that term.<\/p>\n

The tattoo revelation came after Platner apologized last week<\/u><\/a> for a series of offensive Reddit posts, which he said came during a period in his life when he was disillusioned and disconnected from his community following his military service. Those include a 2013 post downplaying sexual assault in the military and a since-deleted 2018 post suggesting<\/u><\/a> violence is necessary to enact social change. In a video last week, Platner, 41, said he regretted the comments and said they did not reflect the life he has now built.<\/p>\n

Platner, previously a political unknown, has made a splash in Maine\u2019s Senate race as several Democrats vie to take on Republican Sen. Susan Collins. His candidacy led some Senate Democrats to question<\/u><\/a> whether Gov. Janet Mills should enter the race at all \u2014 although she did earlier this month<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n

One of Platner\u2019s strongest supporters on Blue Light News was not wavering on him on Tuesday. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who rallied with Platner in Maine last month and has endorsed his campaign, defended the oysterman when asked about the tattoo on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook, I understand this whole platoon \u2014 I don’t know too much about it \u2014 got inebriated,\u201d Sanders said. \u201cHe went through a dark period. He’s not the only one in America who has gone through a dark period. People go through that, he has apologized for the stupid remarks, the hurtful remarks that he made, and I’m confident that he’s going to run a great campaign and that he’s going to win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mia McCarthy contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Democratic Maine Senate hopeful Graham Platner expressed regret over getting a tattoo that appears similar to a Nazi symbol nearly two decades ago and plans to have it removed, his latest mea culpa after a week of damning headlines over resurfaced social media posts. Platner\u2019s campaign sought to front-run opposition research about his tattoo \u2014 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14703"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14703\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}