In an age of 24/7 news, it’s easy to scroll through headline after headline on social media and yawn, but the Lansing State Journal rolled out a jarring and bizarre headline for a story Monday.
The headline: “Company sues MSU over ‘unauthorized’ use of quiz featuring Adolf Hitler question.”
MSU, of course, stands for the local Michigan State Spartans, but the rest of the headline raises plenty of questions.
According to the State Journal, here’s what happened. When Michigan State hosted bitter rival Michigan in October 2023, the stadium showed a quiz on the scoreboard more than an hour before kickoff. The quiz displayed an image of Hitler and asked a question about his birthplace.
The Quiz Channel, a YouTube channel that posts — you guessed it — trivia and quizzes, has sued the university, claiming the question “appeared to match” a Hitler-related question from an Oct. 13 episode.
The operator of The Quiz Channel, Carsilius Media, and its owner, Floris van Pallandt, filed a lawsuit on Aug. 9 in Grand Rapid, claiming the university engaged in copyright infringement and invasion of privacy. The MSU Board of Regents are named as defendants.
The Hitler-related question had already spurred controversy after it appeared before the Oct. 21 game.
I know this didn’t happen. Tell me this. Did. Not. Happen.
BARTENDER!!! https://t.co/gbcQrz77fi
— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) October 22, 2023
Michigan State blamed a “third party source” for the content, saying “This is not representative of our institutional values. MSU will not be using the third-party source going forward and will implement stronger screening and approval procedures for all videoboard content in the future.”
Based on a claim in the lawsuit, that “third party source” is The Quiz Channel.
“Once this story became national and international news, Michigan State University’s first response was to attempt to place the blame on Plaintiffs, stating that the use of Hitler in the quiz was the fault of the company who created the quiz,” the lawsuit states.
Some observers were baffled that MSU could have let something like this happen.
“Michigan State being sued for stealing Hitler trivia” is somehow not an Onion article. pic.twitter.com/TKcRXRysTN
— College Sports Only (@CollegeSportsO) August 12, 2024
Such a Michigan State thing. https://t.co/YZOCFGdax8
— Emotional Support Cat (@NathanHam87) August 13, 2024
I have so many questions 🤔 https://t.co/vb7jVvtaLz
— D3AC0N (@ThatDeaconGuy) August 12, 2024
Just when you think that perhaps a story had died down… https://t.co/otygtdQDAz
— LSAClassOf2000 (@LorneEC3) August 12, 2024
