MEDIA LOSER: NFL's Jonathan Allen Washington Commanders star defensive tackle Jonathan Allen issued an apology after listing Adolf Hitler among three people with whom he’d like to have dinner. Allen attempted to engage with his fans Wednesday morning when he tweeted “ask me anything” and answered a question about with which three people, dead or alive, he’d want to share a dinner table. “My granddad, hitler and micheal Jackson,” Allen answered in a since deleted tweet. Dinner with an alleged pedophile, a genocidal mass murderer, and pop-pop? Poor granddad, getting thrown into that party. When asked for clarification on why he wanted to have dinner with Hitler, Allen gave a blunt answer in another tweet (which he has also since deleted). “He’s a military genius and I love military tactics but honestly I would want to pick his brain as to why he did what he did,” Allen wrote. “I’m also assuming that the people I’ve chosen have to answer my questions honestly.” After hours of backlash to his tweet, Allen thought better of announcing he wants to dine with Hitler and issued an apology. “Early I tweeted something that probably hurt people and I apologize about what I said,” the Commanders defensive tackle tweeted. “I didn’t express properly what I was trying to say and I realize it was dumb!” Allen, who represented the Commanders in the Pro Bowl last weekend, was also nominated for the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award for the second straight season, an honor that highlights a player’s volunteer and charity work in addition to their excellence on the field. This is only the most recent in a rash of very public Holocaust and Nazi-related missteps and outrages. At this moment, The View co-host Whoopi Goldberg remains on suspension following her related controversy, when she said the Nazis engaging in genocide against Jews wasn't about race. And British standup comic Jimmy Carr sparked anger as well just days earlier over a riff from his Netflix special that includes the punchline “no one ever wants to talk about the positives” of the Holocaust. ADL chief Jonathan Greenblatt has said in the past what he brought up again after Goldberg's comments, which is that education on these issues is lacking. With Jonathan Allen's comments joining the list, maybe celebrities should be first in line for that class. |