Maine Senate candidate apologises for unearthed homophobic Reddit posts and ‘Nazi’ tattoo
Graham Platner has been at the centre of controversy in recent weeks (Sophie Park/Getty Images)
Graham Platner has been at the centre of controversy in recent weeks (Sophie Park/Getty Images)
Graham Platner, a Democratic candidate for the US Senate in Maine, has issued an apology and removed a tattoo that resembled a Nazi symbol, which comes after a series of anti-LGBTQ+ Reddit posts authored by him resurfaced.
Marine Corps combat veteran and oyster farmer Platner, 41, is running in the state’s Democratic primary with hopes of unseating long-running Republican Susan Collins, who has held the seat since 1997.
Earlier this month, past Reddit posts made by Platner under the handle P-Hustle resurfaced in which he used gay as a derogatory term and the slur “f*g”, as well as ableist slurs and commented at those worried about sexual assault should “take some responsibility for themselves and not get so f**ked up they wind up having sex with someone they don’t mean to”.
In the unearthed posts he also described himself as a “communist”, said “cops are b*stards” and described all rural white Americans as “racist” and “stupid”.
“Feel free to back it up with facts, f*gs”
“This was the gayest (not in the fun dick sucking way) thing I’ve ever seen. This dude is literally everything I hate all rolled into one,” he wrote in one post, using the queer identity as a derogatory term.
“Betcha not a single downvoter is a real combat vet. Feel free to back it up with facts, f*gs,” he wrote in another.
In a different post, he reflected on his life following his military career, saying he is “a vegetable growing, psychedelics-taking socialist these days”, stating: “After the war, I’ve pretty much stopped believing in any of the patriotic nonsense that got me there in the first place, and am a firm believer that the best thing a person can do is help their neighbors and live a loving life.”
“Still got the guns though,” he added. “I don’t trust the fascists to act politely.”
In response to the comments coming to light, Platner said in a video posted on X: “For those of you who have read these things and been offended, have read these things and seen someone that you don’t recognize, I am deeply sorry.”
He went on to say that reading through his past statements he sees things he “absolutely [does] not agree with” and “words and statements that I abhor”, adding that the “worst” comments he made come from a time in a life when he was “struggling deeply”.
“I got out of the army in 2012, I had PTSD, I had depression, I had all of the things that come with serving in a war – two wars – that I eventually began to not believe in at all. It left me feeling very unmoored, it left me feeling very disillusioned, very alienated and very isolated and like a lot of people I went on the internet to post stupid things and get in fights and find some form of community in some way,” he said.
— Graham Platner for Senate (@grahamformaine) October 17, 2025
In an interview with CNN, Platner clarified his actions were him “f**king around the internet”
“I don’t want people to see me for who I was in my worst Internet comment – or even frankly who I was in my best Internet comment … I don’t think any of that is indicative of who I am today, really,” he told the outlet, adding: “I’m not a communist. I’m not a socialist. I own a small business. I’m a Marine Corps veteran.”
After the comments surfaced, Platner faced further backlash after a tattoo on his chest – identified in a video of Platner dancing in his underwear at his brother’s wedding – was noted as baring a similarity to a well-known Nazi symbol.
The skull-and-crossbones style tattoo looks similar to a Totenkopf, known in German as Death’s Head, which was a symbol adopted by Hitler’s Schutzstaffel (SS) during the Nazi era.
The Anti-Defamation League state following World War II neo-Nazis and other white supremacist organisations and supporters resurrected the Totenkopf as a hate symbol because of its importance to the SS.
“It is this particular image of a skull and crossbones that is considered a hate symbol, not any image of a skull and crossbones,” the organisation clarifies.
In a statement to the BBC, Platner said: “I absolutely would not have gone through life having this on my chest if I knew that – and to insinuate that I did is disgusting.
“I already had the tattoo covered with a new design.”
Platner said he got the tattoo when he was in his 20s during a drunken night on leave with his fellow Marines in Croatia. He said he picked the tattoo of a wall of images in a tattoo studio and did not know what it meant.
“We chose a terrifying looking skull and crossbones off the wall because we were marines and skulls and crossbones are pretty standard military thing,” he explained.
Years ago I got a skull and crossbones tattoo with my buddies in the Marine Corps.
— Graham Platner for Senate (@grahamformaine) October 22, 2025
I was appalled to learn it closely resembled a Nazi symbol. I altered it yesterday, into something that isn't deeply offensive to my core beliefs.
I am very sorry to all of you who had to… pic.twitter.com/RQSiRsrTiC
In response to the controversy, Platner’s political director Genevieve McDonald quit his campaign.
“Platner prides himself on his extensive knowledge of military history,” she said of the tattoo. “While he may not have known what his tattoo meant when he selected the image, it is not plausible he remained ignorant of its meaning all these years.”
“Maybe he didn’t know it when he got it, but he got it years ago and he should have had it covered up because he knows damn well what it means,” she added.
