Michigan State pays $35,000 to settle lawsuit over use of Hitler photo on jumbotron

Shortly after October 7, 2023, Michigan State University caused an uproar when the school displayed an image of Hitler on its jumbotron during a highly anticipated football game.

Now, the university is paying $35,000 to the YouTube quiz company from which the image of Hitler was taken.

The payment settles a lawsuit brought against MSU by Floris van Pallandt, owner of The Quiz Channel, for unauthorized use of the channel’s content. A staffer at the university projected the Hitler image, along with a trivia question about what year the Nazi leader was born, during the school’s rivalry game against the University of Michigan.

After the incident, Van Pallandt condemned the use of the image and said the school hadn’t sought permission. He also sued the school.

An attorney for Van Pallandt said he was happy with the settlement, and added, “He sees this as vindication at the end of the day.” A spokesperson for MSU, which Hillel International estimates has around 2,700 Jewish students, declined to comment to local media.

Several MSU officials, including the school’s interim president and athletic director, apologized for the Hitler reference at the time, with the athletic director, Alan Haller, pledging to reach out to local Jewish groups so they could “hear directly from me regarding our failed responsibilities as well as our promise to do better.” They also suspended the staffer responsible, with pay.

The incident came at a time of heightened fear and tension in the American Jewish community, which was reeling from the violence in Israel and the shocking murder of a Jewish community leader in Detroit.

On October 7, 2023, the Palestinian terror group Hamas led thousands of attackers to invade southern Israel, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians. It was the biggest single-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust and triggered the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.