Michigan State Appears To Have Put Hitler On The Jumbotron... No, Seriously

If you bet your buddy that there was no way the folks at Michigan State would put a picture of Hitler on the Jumbotron during the Spartan's Saturday night game against the Michigan Wolverines, you would have lost that bet.

Which is a shame, because that seemed like it would've been a mortal lock.

It appears from a photo making the rounds on social media that the Spartans' Jumbotron displayed some trivia questions at some point before the game. That sounds fun. I like trivia, and for the most part, everyone does.

It appears they were doing some general knowledge questions, including this one: Where was Adolf Hitler born?

History buffs know the answer is Austria, but were they out of questions?

Crap... I think that question about mitochondria was our last question... looks like we need to use the Hitler question.

Pretty much any question would've been better than that.

At least they didn't show the answer alongside a giant picture of Hitler looking off into the distance with a smile.

...Huh? They did do that.

As you'd expect, a lot of people were upset about this. We can't much blame them, especially in light of recent events around the world. There is of course the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, but it was also on the same day that news broke of a synagogue president who was found stabbed to death outside her home in Detroit. Which is in Michigan, for the trivia challenged.

The circumstances are terrible. And while we're by no means making excuses for the hapless scoreboard operator(s) responsible, there appears to be a simple explanation for how this happened.

Was Michigan State Simply Playing A YouTube Quiz Video?

The school released a statement shortly after he photo made the rounds on social media.

“MSU is aware that inappropriate content by a third-party source was displayed on the videoboard prior to the start of tonight’s football game," MSU associate athletic director Matt Larson said in a statement. "We are deeply sorry for the content that was displayed, as this is not representative of our institutional values.

The third-party source alluded to in the statement is likely a YouTube channel. One X user pointed out that the team was likely playing a YouTube quiz video on the big screen.

Sure enough, if you hop on The Quiz Channel on YouTube and head for the video titled "General Knowledge Trivia Quiz (Part 18)" you'll find it complete with the questions about Super Mario Brothers, what animals produce pearls, where AC/DC hailed from and -- you guessed it -- where Hitler was born.

Here, I'll even save you the time...it's question 28...you're welcome.

So it looks like this happened, but it would appear to be an honest mistake.

It's an unfortunate situation, and maybe someone at Michigan State should've given the video a once over, but why would they think they needed to?

I mean, it's pretty misleading to throw a Scrabble board, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Peter Griffin, and crayons on the thumbnail and then toss in a Hitler question.

Follow on X: @Matt_Reigle