Politics

George Santos accused of blatant racist and antisemitic comments in resurfaced Facebook post

Rep. George Santos
Rep. George Santos Photo: U.S. House

Recently revealed social media screenshots appear to show Rep. George Santos (R-NY) making deeply offensive racist and antisemitic comments.

Patch reviewed a slew of deleted posts allegedly written by Santos (who reportedly deleted his entire personal Facebook account in December). In 2011, the report says he commented on a Facebook friend’s photo in which the friend was making a salute that was captioned, “something like Hitler.”

Santos allegedly replied, “hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh
hiiiiiiiiiiiitlerrrrrrrrrrr (hight hitler)
lolololololololololololol sombody kill her!! the jews and black mostly lolllolol!!! Dum”

A former friend of Santos provided the screenshot to Patch, telling the publication they decided to find and screenshot the comment after Santos began claiming he was Jewish and that his grandparents were Holocaust survivors. Santos made these claims repeatedly throughout his recent congressional campaign – and multiple investigations into his past have revealed that neither appears to be true.

“Joking about Hitler is clearly offensive for anyone,” said Oren Segal, vice president at the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism, “but it’s especially offensive from someone who lied about his Jewish heritage and having family members that fled the Holocaust.”

After accusations piled on that he lied about his ancestry, Santos told the New York Post that he said he was “Jew-ish,” and that he never claimed to be Jewish.

Santos’s former roommate Gregory Morey-Parker also appeared on Anderson Cooper’s CNN show and accused Santos of making up a name – “Anthony Zebrosky” – so that he could raise money more easily from Jewish people.

For years, Santos ran a charity called “Friends of Pets” that was unregistered and supposed to help sick animals by helping them raise funds on GoFundMe. One of the people Santos helped with the charity accused him of raising $3000 for his dog’s surgery and then keeping the money.

“Well, he used Zebrosky for his ‘Friends of Pets United,’ his GoFundMe,” Morey-Parker said. “He would say, ‘Oh, well, you know, the Jews will give more if you’re a Jew. And, so, that’s the name he used for his GoFundMes.”

The Santos team has denied that he ever wrote the Facebook comment.

“The Facebook comment that you reference…is completely false, absolutely disgusting — There is absolutely nothing to talk about,” Santos attorney Joseph Murray told Patch.

Santos spoke out against antisemitism in December.

Patch also called attention to a 2014 post in which Santos shared a racist photo of Barack and Michelle Obama. Santos claimed he was sharing the photo to show how egregious it was and that it was clear based on his hashtags that he did not approve of it, but he still deleted it after criticism.

After being elected to represent New York’s Third Congressional District and becoming the first out gay Republican elected to Congress, Santos’ life story came crumbling down as several newspapers reported he never went to the colleges he said he attended, never worked for the major banks he said he worked for, and that he had been lying about his family history as well. He has admitted to many of these lies, calling them “a little bit of fluff” on his resume.

Santos admitted that he lied about graduating from Baruch College and New York University, working directly for Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, and living at a fake address in his congressional district. He provided no additional proof to back up claims that he founded a charity called Friends of Pets, that his grandparents escaped the Holocaust, and that he lost four employees in the June 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting.

His ex-boyfriend, Pedro Vilarva, said that, while they lived together, he paid many bills for Santos. He suspects that Santos stole and pawned his phone for cash.

Santos has also been accused of check fraud in Brazil and has even been accused of stealing money designated for the medical care of a veteran’s dying dog.

A recent Siena College poll found that 71 percent of New York City suburbanites think Santos should resign. Only 8 percent of respondents said they had a favorable view of Santos. Santos has repeatedly said that he won’t quit.

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