Michigan State University displays Adolf Hitler on video board at football game, apologizes

Oct. 22 (UPI) -- Michigan State University has apologized for displaying a trivia question featuring the image of Adolf Hitler before its rivalry game with Michigan on Saturday night.

Hitler's image appeared along with a trivia question on the video board at Spartan Stadium about an hour before kickoff. In a statement, associate athletic director Matt Larson said a third-party source displayed the content.

"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," Larson said.

"We are deeply sorry for the content that was displayed, as this is not representative of our institutional values. MSU will not be using the third-party source going forward and will implement stronger screening and approval procedures for all videoboard content in the future."

The quiz question asked where Hitler was born and answered "Austria." It is part of a YouTube page called "The Quiz Channel." Floris van Pallandt, the creator of the page and quiz, said the use of his content was not authorized.

"I was completely unaware of this and only learned content created by me was being used due to this occurrence," Van Pallandt said in an email to CNN.

"While I provide customized content packages for businesses, the utilization of my publicly accessible YouTube content for stadium entertainment is highly questionable to say the least."

Van Pallandt added that he would not have shown that question at the football game.

Michigan State's football season has been marred by controversy this fall, stemming from the firing of head coach Mel Tucker for alleged sexual harassment.

Saturday's trivia gaffe happened days after President Joe Biden warned Americans against rising anti-Semitism and Islamophobia as conflict rages on between Israel and Hamas.