OWENSBORO, Ky. – A Kentucky man’s Halloween costume causing quite the controversy on social media.
According to WEHT, Bryant Goldbach dressed up as a Nazi soldier with his 5-year-old son Thursday night, who was dressed up as Adolf Hitler.
Goldbach reportedly chose the costumes for historical purposes and said he hadn’t really thought the idea through.
When the Goldbach arrived at their trunk-or-treat event they immediately faced backlash.
Goldbach took to Facebook, responding to the incident and commenting on how he and his son were treated. He said:
“Tonight me and my family went to the ‘Trail of Treats’ at the riverfront. They had a wonderful time and are very hasppy with their candy haul. But i need to speak out about. Anyone who knows us knows that we love history, and often dress the part of historical characters. Tonight as we walked we saw people dressed as murderers, devils, serial killers, blood and gore of all sorts. Nobody batted an eye. But my little boy and i, dress as historical figures, and it merits people not only making snide remarks, but approaching us and threatening my little 5 year old boy. That’s right. 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 a small child. First off, its none of your business. Second, how dare you! I mean How dare you threaten a child. Me, its one thing, but my child? You are messing with fire. I do want to thank the people who interviened, and for those good people we interacted with. Yes liberalism is alive and well. And we had the displeasure of dealing with the fruits of the so called ‘Tolerant Left.'”
On Friday, Goldbach posted photos of him and his son in their costumes on Facebook and received even more backlash.
Goldbach reportedly said he didn’t realize the costume would raise so much controversy and has apologized for his actions.
“I think it was in bad taste for me to let my child wear that, probably for me to wear that. It didn’t occur to me. I thought it was a bad decision on my part,” Goldbach told WEHT.
A Rabbi at a temple in the area responded to the incident with the following statement:
“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. A good rule of thumb would be: “if your costume calls to mind an event where millions were killed, choose another costume.” As we are learning through Megyn Kelley’s words as well, costumes where someone dresses up deliberately to mock someone’s race, religion or nationality should be avoided. If the purpose of Halloween is to have fun – bigotry, anti-Semitism and racism are not fun. That should be common sense. This is not being “politically correct” this is simply being respectful, understanding and kind.”