South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg is riding high in Iowa polls, but not even that could prevent him from being dragged on social media for a photo posted by his husband.
Chasten Buttigieg posted the photo, which shows the 2020 Democratic presidential candidate at the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin, in April of 2017 during a trip to Germany. It was captioned simply, “This guy.”
The two were married in June of 2018, just over a year after the photo was taken. (RELATED: Buttigieg Leads The Pack In Iowa According To New Monmouth Poll)
The photo began recirculating over the weekend after NBC reporter Ben Kesslen dug it up, and the social media response was swift.
is this….at the holocaust memorial in berlin…. pic.twitter.com/8bvmz9Zs7z
— ben kesslen (@benkesslen) November 18, 2019
I don’t think taking a picture there necessarily has to be disrespectful. But when you see it came out looking like a fashion shoot, maybe don’t post that.
— Noah Berlatsky (@nberlat) November 18, 2019
Ohhhhhh people are mad he’s disrespectful at a Holocaust memorial. Didn’t have that on my Buttigieg bingo card but I’ll accept it
— Power is bad (@ZackKopplin) November 18, 2019
A few pointed out a possible connection to a trend in Grindr profile photos taken in that exact spot.
When Pete Buttigieg came out in 2015, this particular meme — gay men using photos taken at the (admittedly, visually dramatic) Berlin holocaust as their IG selfie / Grindr profile pic — was at least three years old. https://t.co/SQx8EhUeWt
— Tim Fitzsimons (@tfitzsimons) November 18, 2019
Hmm @skinny412 with a link suggesting that there’s more to this Buttigieg/Holocaust thing https://t.co/ITBZ4WcxBw
— Nathaniel Friedman (@freedarko) November 18, 2019
“Pete Buttigieg cares more about Grindr-inspired memes than he does respecting the sanctity of remembering the Holocaust” there I wrote an attack ad
— Nathaniel Friedman (@freedarko) November 18, 2019
Even LGBT+ publisher Pink News did not appear to have Buttigieg’s back, publishing a story Monday that referred to the photo as “tone deaf.”
Pete Buttigieg’s husband shares tone deaf picture of presidential hopeful at Holocaust Memorial https://t.co/FDXw2d7KxI
— PinkNews (@PinkNews) November 18, 2019
Buttigieg, who is leading in Iowa in several polls, also ran into trouble after claiming that he was supported by several prominent African Americans who had not actually offered their support.