World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) has apologised after using an image from the Nazi Holocaust camp Auschwitz during a preview show.
The photo was used last weekend during the promotion of one of its matches between Rey Mysterio and Dominik Mysterio, during the first night of WrestleMania 39.
In a statement afterwards, WWE said: “We had no knowledge of what was depicted. As soon as we learned, it was removed immediately. We apologize for this error.”
The promotional package was based on a storyline between a father and son, which included Dominik Mysterio going to jail after being involved in an incident with his father during Christmas.
The image of Auschwitz appeared on screen as Dominik said in the video: “You think this is a game to me? I served hard time. And I survived.”
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The photo which appeared on screen was from a concentration camp where the Nazis murdered more than one million people during the Second World War, in Oswiecim, Poland.
The image was then replaced by stock footage of barbed wire and an empty jail cell in the video, before the match and in the replays.
But many fans had already noticed the image. It later drew more attention after a Twitter post by Auschwitz Memorial Museum, which called out WWE for their “editing mistake”.
The post said: “The fact that Auschwitz image was used to promote a WWE match is hard to call ‘an editing mistake’.
“Exploiting the site that became a symbol of enormous human tragedy is shameless and insults the memory of all victims of Auschwitz.”
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A thread of comments underneath the post also called out WWE for the image.
One social media user said: “What stock site wouldn’t have it labelled as anything but Nazi death camp? It’s not going to be just labelled ‘prison’.”
Another user wrote: “Agreed 100%! You need to take them to court and hold them accountable for this! This was just low, even for them!”
