A father from Kentucky has faced death threats after he dressed his five-year-old son up as Adolf Hitler as part of a Halloween costume.
Bryant Goldbach said he regrets dressing his five-year-old son as the dictator, while he was pictured wearing a Waffen-SS uniform.
He initially attempted to justify the idea saying his son loved dressing as ‘historical figures’.
But now he and his family have received threats of violence from people incensed by the father’s tone deaf choice of outfit.
Bryant Goldbach took to Facebook to vent after he and his family attended the Trail of Treats in Owensboro Thursday night. He posted a photograph of himself and his son in which he wore what appeared to be a Nazi officer’s uniform, and the boy wore a suit, swastika armband and Hitler-style mustache.
Twitter users were showing little sympathy for the father-of-four’s excuses for dressing he and his son up as a Nazi
‘I understand that people are mad, but please leave my family alone,’ said Goldbach of the multiple death threats he says he has received.
According to the father of four, he has been threatened he would be ‘beaten with bats,’ and that he ‘needs to watch over his shoulder.’
Out of fear, Goldbach says he and his wife are limiting their time outside of their house.
However, the dad’s Facebook page still showed the offending picture together with a picture of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin above.
Goldbach posted photos of the outfits during a local trick or treat event on Thursday and condemned those who approached and threatened him and his son during the party.
The outrage didn’t stop online with people pouring cold water on Goldbach’s response that they were just ‘historical figures’.
Even though the father has attempted to apologize for the costumer, his Facebook page still shows the offensive photo together with his children
Bryant Goldbach took to Facebook to vent after he posted a photograph of himself and his son in which he wore what appeared to be a Nazi officer’s uniform
‘Claims that they were dressing as ‘historical figures,’ then blames the backlash on liberalism’ wrote a skeptical Danyahel Norris on twitter.
‘There are something’s that should never be taken lightly. Hitler and the Nazis is not the kind of thing you flip into something ‘fun’ unless you see nothing wrong with what they did,’ said another online.
‘So like where exactly did that dada who dressed his son up as Hitler and himself as a Nazi officer get all that really authentic gear? You ain’t buying ss pins at Walmart’ asked another critic on Twitter.
‘Is it really that easy to get a full SS uniform? I would think the website he had to buy it from would have been a bit shady. Or can you just buy them at any Trump property now?’ asked another in a Tweet.
‘Tonight grown adults threatened a child over his costume. Threatened his mom and dad as well,’ Goldbach wrote. ‘Threatened to rip his outfit off of him screaming obscenities, scareing (sic) a small child.
‘Anyone who knows us knows that we love history, and often dress the part of historical figures,’ he wrote in a post that has since been deleted.
‘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 (son) 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,’ he wrote in the tone deaf posting.
‘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.’
The posting soon went viral and the family quickly found that people were not at all impressed with Goldbach’s costume choice with countless posting online to berate the father.
‘This poor guy dressed himself and his kids as historical figures for Halloween and got a load abuse. unbelievable, the costumes can’t be that ba…. okay never mind,’ Twitter user Dan Hett joked.
‘Tonight grown adults threatened a child over his costume. Threatened his mom and dad as well,’ Goldbach wrote. ‘Threatened to rip his outfit off of him screaming obscenities, scareing (sic) a small child.’
‘While I’m not saying it was a good idea he kind of has a point, most costumes are of well known killers whether fictional or historical figure, why is dressing as one of the most prolific murderers so frowned upon?’ @announcer_stef asked.
Because it’s not just history, it’s ideology, a sadly vivid one, that throws back to a very dark chapter of humankind history. There’s a difference between killing and genocide, dressing up as a nazi reminds you of the latter,’ added @sup_johnny.
Goldbach was publicly shamed as a ‘child abuser,’ ‘racist,’ and ‘coward’ on Facebook, Reddit, and Twitter.
Following the backlash, Goldbach who runs a jewelry store later apologized for his actions claiming he ‘didnt realize the costume would ‘stir so much controversy.’
Goldbach attempted to justify his costume choice by stating he really ‘loved’ history
He then admitted he hadn’t thought the costume through and conceded it was in ‘bad taste.’
‘I think it was in bad taste for me to let my child to wear that, probably for me to wear that. It didn’t occur to me. I thought it was a bad decision on my part,’ he said.
Rabbi Gary Mazo of Temple Adath B’nai Israel in nearby Evansville, Indiana, said in a statement that anti-Semitism should not have a place in Halloween festivities.
‘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,’ Mazo said.
Goldbach’s viral photo comes at a time when national attention has been brought to Halloween costumes after Megyn Kelly defended blackface.
On her show on Wednesday, Kelly questioned why dressing up in blackface for Halloween was inappropriate. NBC announced on Friday that Kelly had been fired from the network.