SubscribeAnother dumb thing some sports exec said
This time, it’s Bernie Eccelstone, the 78-year-old chief executive of Formula One Management:
In a lot of ways, terrible to say this I suppose, but apart from the fact that Hitler got taken away and persuaded to do things that I have no idea whether he wanted to do or not, he was in the way that he could command a lot of people, able to get things done. In the end he got lost, so he wasn’t a very good dictator.
Eccelstone made his remarks in an interview with The London Times on July 4. He has since apologized for his comments in a letter to the editor of the Times.
In an effort not to take anything out of context, read his entire response, an excerpt of which is excerpted below:
I have no complaints about the quote — it is what I said — but it was not what I meant to say. Not surprisingly it has upset a number of people in the Jewish community, in Germany and elsewhere. Those who don’t know me think I support Hitler’s atrocities; those who do know me have told me how unwise I was to articulate my points so badly that it should have been so widely misunderstood.
Yesterday on the Tony Kornheiser-less Pardon the Interruption, Michael Wilbon and guest host Dan LeBatard took up the topic.
Wilbon: We only seem to talk Forumla One racing on this show when it intersects with Nazis. Last year, F1 executive Max Mosley got outed for participating in a Nazi-themed S&M game. Now, F1 head Bernie Eccelstone is quoted by The Times of London as saying that “Apart from the fact that Hitler got taken away and persuaded to do things that I have no idea whether he wanted to do, he was able to get things done.” Eccelstone says, of course, he was misunderstood and, of course, some of his best friends are Jewish. Danny, you think this takes him off the hook?
LeBatard: No, I think what you need to do is whenever you’re in a position in sports where you are speaking to people as the head of an organization, and Hitler enters your mind in any way…
Wilbon: Shut it down…
LeBatard: Stop whatever you’re doing, run from the room, screaming, with your arms over your head. Even if the word “Adolph” comes in and you;re thinking of Rupp, just leave the room…do not continue down the path.
Wilbon: It’s inconceivably stupid. Now, in America, this wouldn’t have been toleated. I mean every single columnist would have been calling for this person’s head. This is not America. Other places in the world — and western Europe is even one of them, where this all played out — people often say, “You know what, he’s a moron,” and then they go on. There are different means and methods and levels of passion in different culures. In the United States, this guy would be out, but, Danny, I don’t think that’s necessarily going to happen in the F1 culture in which he operates.
LeBatard: Well, you just mentioned in passing a Nazi S&M game; we just blew right past that story.
Wilbon: The whole thing is just too bizarre to contemplate.
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Wilbon is wrong in one respect. In America, Ecclestone’s comments would be covered by the First Amendment. People might be yelling for his head but legally he would be protected. In much of Europe, it’s not that simple; in many countries, including Germany, there are laws against things like denying the Holocaust and, probably defending the Nazis. It’s conceivable that Ecclestone could run into legal problems for what he said. As a matter of fact, England tried to keep out a right-wing American talk show host (can’t remember his name) on the grounds that he was inciting hatred.