Republican Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene has said she is “very sorry” for comparing COVID-19 mask mandates to the Holocaust following her recent visit to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.
“I have made a mistake,” Greene said. “I wanted to say that I know that words that I’ve stated were hurtful and for that I am very sorry.”
Greene originally made the comparison in late May when criticizing possible plans to separate unvaccinated and maskless House members from their vaccinated colleagues.
“You know, we can look back in a time in history where people were told to wear a gold star and they were definitely treated as second-class citizens, so much so that they were put in trains and taken to gas chambers in Nazi Germany,” Greene said. She made her comments on The Water Cooler, a show on the Real America’s Voice, a right-leaning media network.
Jewish groups and other lawmakers immediately condemned Green’s comments. Greene initially doubled down on them a few days later, stating that “any rational Jewish person” would also oppose “overbearing” mask mandates. A few days after that, she compared COVID-19 prevention measures to the Holocaust yet again.
The Holocaust, which occurred from 1941 to 1945, involved Nazis killing roughly 6 million European Jews. Mask mandates have not yet been linked to any deaths, according to the fact-checking site Politifact.com.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
