A candidate for the U.S. Senate from Maine denied on Tuesday that his totenkopf “death’s head” tattoo indicated that he had or has neo-Nazi or antisemitic views.
Graham Platner, a former Marine and oyster farmer who is running as a Democrat to unseat Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), told Jewish Insider that he was previously unaware of the symbol’s meaning and plans to get the tattoo removed.
“It was not until I started hearing from reporters and D.C. insiders that I realized this tattoo resembled a Nazi symbol,” Platner said. “I absolutely would not have gone through life having this on my chest if I knew that, and to insinuate that I did is disgusting.”
A video published on the Pod Save America podcast on Monday shows Platner in 2015 in his underwear with a chest tattoo of the emblem of the unit responsible for administering Nazi Germany’s death camps.
“The video is from my brother’s marriage to his wife, to my sister-in-law, who I was serenading. I told them that my wedding gift to them would be my embarrassment,” Platner said. “I am not a secret Nazi. Actually, if you read through my Reddit comments, I think you can pretty much figure out where I stand on Nazism and antisemitism, and racism in general. I would say a lifelong opponent.”
The Maine Democrat, who has been embraced by many from the progressive wing of the party, has previously faced controversy over his Reddit comments describing himself as a “Communist,” a label he now rejects.
Platner said he got the tattoo on shore leave from U.S. Marine Corps service in 2007 in Split, Croatia, and drunkenly picked what he said he thought was an innocuous skull and crossbones.
“At no point in this entire experience of my life did anybody ever once say, ‘Hey, you’re a Nazi,’” he said. “It never came up until we got wind that in the opposition research somebody was shopping the idea that I was a secret Nazi with a hidden Nazi tattoo.”
Jewish Insider reported on Tuesday that Platner had previously told an acquaintance in 2012 that he was aware of the symbol’s origin, saying “Oh, this is my totenkopf,” in “a cutesy little way.”
Platner is running in the Democratic primary against Maine Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, to unseat Collins, the incumbent Republican.
His campaign ads have repeatedly focused on the endorsement of Collins from AIPAC, and his platform describes the Israeli war against Hamas as a “genocide.”
“We are sending American taxpayer dollars to underwrite the starvation of Gaza, in what can only be accurately described as a genocide,” Platner wrote.
“I stand with all people seeking peace, democracy and self-determination,” he added. “In this moment, that means a clear-eyed condemnation of the Gaza genocide, and the use of every means available to America to bring it to an end.”
