Graham Platner’s controversial Reddit comments featured on ‘The Daily Show’
Maine has once again found a spotlight on late-night television. A leading Democratic U.S. Senate candidate’s controversial, now-deleted social media comments were featured on a segment of Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” Tuesday night.
Graham Platner has come under fire in recent weeks for his old Reddit comments about racism, sexual assault in the military and police officers.
The Hancock County oyster farmer has apologized repeatedly for the posts, which included statements describing rural white Americans as racist, calling “all” police officers bastards and questioning why Black people don’t tip. Platner has said he made those comments when he was angry, disillusioned and isolated while suffering from untreated post-traumatic stress disorder and depression following his military service.
Comedian Michael Kosta referenced Platner’s Reddit posts and his response to the backlash in a four-minute segment Tuesday night.
“Up in Maine, there’s a Democrat named Graham Platner, running for Senate,” Kosta said. “He was getting a lot of momentum until this happened.”
The satirical comedy show also showed clips from Platner’s extended interview on “Pod Save America” that aired Monday night, where the candidate also acknowledged his old social media posts.
The “Daily Show” segment did not reference a portion of the “Pod Save America” episode in which Platner spoke about a tattoo he has that is linked to Nazism. Platner said on the podcast that he and some fellow Marines got the skull tattoo while drunk on leave in Croatia in 2007 without knowing about its association with Hitler’s brutal SS guard. He said he did not learn of the tattoo’s Nazi ties until recently and that he plans to get it removed.
Platner has gained significant national attention since he announced his campaign in August. Since then, some Democratic senators across the nation have fueled the buzz, praising Platner in interviews. Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent who caucuses with the Democrats, has endorsed Platner, appeared with him at a Portland event in September and told reporters in Washington this week that he still supports his candidacy.
Platner isn’t the only Mainer who secured a recent spot in the late-night circuit. Pop singer and songwriter Tucker Pillsbury, known as Role Model, appeared as a musical guest on “Saturday Night Live” earlier this month.
