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WGN-TV Chicago Apologizes for Nazi Symbol in Yom Kippur Segment

The news director of a Chicago TV station apologized after a staff member mistakenly chose a symbol of Nazi Germany to illustrate a story about Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement.

“Regrettably, we failed to recognize that the artwork we chose to accompany the story contained an offensive symbol,” the director, Jennifer Lyons, said in an apology on Wednesday. “This was an unfortunate mistake. Ignorance is not an excuse.”

The apology came the morning after Tom Negovan, an anchor with WGN-TV Chicago, read a 20-second description of the holiday. Over his shoulder, viewers could see a graphic of a Star of David badge emblazoned with the German word “Jude,” or Jew, on striped material of the kind used in Nazi prisoner uniforms.

Marc Karlinsky noticed the badge and posted a photo of the segment to Twitter, which was widely shared.

In an on-air acknowledgment that lasted roughly as long as his original Yom Kippur segment, Mr. Negovan made what he called a “major correction” and said that anchors were not able to see the symbol during the original broadcast.

“We apparently used a symbol that is extremely offensive to the Jewish community,” he said. “We mistakenly showed a symbol used by Nazi Germany to identify Jews.”

The badge, which has been used in various forms to discriminate against Jews since the Middle Ages, was used by Nazis in Germany to isolate Jewish people from the rest of society. Aside from using the threat of violence to force Jews to wear the badges on their clothing, Nazis also used the symbol on propaganda leaflets, according to the Holocaust Memorial Center. “Whoever bears this sign is an enemy of our people,” read one example.

After the station apologized online, on air and on Twitter, people on social media were still in disbelief that no one at the station caught the error.

“How did this ever get broadcast without someone catching the mistake?” one user asked the station on Twitter. The station did not answer.

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