Student Wears Nazi Costume, Does Adolf Hitler Salute For Graduation Photo; Netizens Appalled
A graduating student in the Philippines received backlash after his "graduation pic," showing him wearing an Adolf Hitler costume, went viral on Facebook.
In late May, a graduating high school student, later discovered to be from Lumil Integrated National High School in Cavite, took to Facebook to change his profile photo with a picture of him in a Nazi costume and captioned it, "Graduation pic goes hard."
The photo went viral on Facebook and X, formerly Twitter, and received backlash from many social media users.
"If our college/university admission process was the same with the United States, he would never get into a [university]," opined one Facebook user, per the comments obtained by Inquirer before the photo got deleted.
"Stupidy at its finest," commented another person.
"There are really a lot of uneducated Gen Zs today. They consider themselves Filipinos, but they are joining the White Power supremacy," wrote someone else in Filipino.
"Edgy a** immature," said a different commenter.
Amid the negative reactions, some came to the student's defense, claiming that others were just "too sensitive" or "OA" with their responses.
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"Have you seen what the Jews in Israel are doing to [the] Palestinians? Or is it alright if he cosplayed as Netanyahu? Do you equally hate someone if he wears a shirt with Stalin, Che Guevarra, or Mao printed on it?" commented one Facebook user.
"You are overreacting. He's just a kid," opined another person.
After receiving criticism for his post, the student deleted his profile picture and eventually deactivated his account.
Before his Facebook account deletion, he wrote a public apology, saying, "I apologize to everyone offended by me regarding the trending post of me wearing Adolf's Uniform. I want to inform you all that I never intended to offend anyone, and I never expected it to go viral."
"As for the caption, 'Graduation pic goes hard,' that photo was taken outside the school, and that was never my actual graduation picture since, of course, no school allows pictures like this to be taken as a graduation pic."
"I don't know why some people said that I study as Sto. Domingo NHS. The schools [that are] being mentioned -- Sto. Domingo NHS and Lumil Integrated NHS -- have nothing to do with this. The photograph was taken after our actualgraduation pic," he added, clarifying that his school had nothing to do with his viral photo.
"Also to those who are thinking about why I didn't take immediate action during the period of it going viral was because I was already asleep."
His school, Lumil Integrated NHS, also issued an apology: "Lumil Integrated National High School would like to express our sincerest apology to those who were offended by the photo of one of our completers."
"We have taken immediate action to resolve the matter and are committed to ensuring these issues do not occur in the future. We deeply value your trust and support. This is a lesson for all the parties involved."
The student's photo received backlash because he portrayed Hitler, whose "hands are stained with the blood of millions killed in the devastation of World War II and the horror of the Holocaust."
