Islanders goalie Thomas Greiss has apologized after he reportedly caused an outrage in Germany when it was discovered that he “liked” an Instagram post comparing Hillary Clinton to Adolf Hitler.
Griess issued the apology through his team after complaints from the German hockey federation — who Greiss is currently competing for during a tournament in Cologne, according to Newsday.
“I apologize for interacting with several posts that appeared in my timeline, which were wrong to engage with,” the statement read. “‘Liking’ these posts was a mistake, and I sincerely apologize again.”
Germany’s Express newspaper posted tweets that purportly show screenshots of the Instagram posts. One included an image of Hilter and the words “Just as innocent as Hillary” underneath it.
Another photoshopped image depicts a bearded Donald Trump in Roman legionnaire gear, hoisting the decapitated head of Clinton in the air.
In the German newspaper Frankfurter Rundschau, writer Jürgen Ahäuser argues that while the posts depicting Hitler don’t prove Greiss follows Nazi ideology, the goalie shouldn’t represent Germany in future hockey tournaments.
In a second statement, the New York Islanders said that they do not condone the behavior and are addressing the situation internally.