EAST LANSING, Mich. — The creator and producer of The Quiz Channel on YouTube, which includes Adolf Hitler’s image as part of a quiz Michigan State used on its videoboards before a game against No. 2 Michigan, said the school didn't ask for permission to use his content or pay him for it.
“It’s an absolutely normal trivia question, shown in an inappropriate setting,” Floris van Pallandt, creator and producer of The Quiz Channel wrote Sunday on his YouTube page. “Ignoring the dark facets of history is by no means the answer, on the contrary.”
The channel is publicly available and free for users.
While No. 2 Michigan was finishing off a 49-0 win over the Spartans on Saturday night, Michigan State spokesman Matt Larson apologized that the inappropriate content was displayed more than an hour before kickoff.
“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,” Larson said.
Michigan State streamed The Quiz Channel, which had 40 questions in its latest video, including asking which was Adolf Hitler born with his image before showing Austria as the answer.
The Board of Trustees released the following statement about the incident on Sunday afternoon:
"The Michigan State University (MSU) Board of Trustees is outraged at last night’s incident at Spartan Stadium. The projected image was unacceptable, and as the oversight body for MSU we want to publicly apologize to everyone who was in Spartan Stadium or learned of this through other means.
The board has spoken with Interim President Teresa Woodruff and Athletic Director Alan Haller and conveyed to them our extreme disappointment and our demand to know how this happened. MSU personnel must be accountable and held responsible for this disgusting display.
Every person in the MSU community and our guests deserve to feel safe and that they belong. The board does not condone bigotry of any kind. We will take necessary steps to ensure that our athletic department and the administration live up to that expectation at all times. The board demands that MSU administrators thoroughly examine all the factors and actions that led to this incident and report back to the board and the public about how this happened and who will be held accountable."
The previous question asked, “In Star Trek, what color was Spock's blood,” before green was shown as the answer.
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