Oklahoma Republican Party accused of using Holocaust imagery in call for special session on vaccines

The Oklahoma Republican party posted to Facebook Friday calling on Oklahoma Lieutenant Governor Matt Pinnell to call for a special legislative session to address mandatory COVID-19 vaccines.

“Politely request he call for a special legislative session to address private employer VACCINE mandates, or their employees face risk of termination.” The post reads.

Included in the post is a photo of a yellow star, strongly resembling the Yellow Stars Jews were forced to wear as a means of identifying them during the Holocaust. The star has the word “unvaccinated” on it, an ID number and what looks to be a microchip.

The post sparked outrage in the comments section. Many users called the post “offensive” and “disgusting.”

KRMG reached out to Lieutenant Governor Matt Pinnell for his reaction to the post.

“It is irresponsible and wrong to compare a vaccine—developed by President Trump’s Operation Warp Speed—to the horrors of the Holocaust. People should have the liberty to choose if they take the vaccine, but we should never compare the unvaccinated to the victims of the Holocaust.” Pinnell told KRMG.

The Jewish Federation of Tulsa issued a response to the Oklahoma GOP on Facebook with the following statement:

“On July 30th 2021, the Oklahoma Republican Party shared a call to action which compared identifying the unvaccinated to the Yellow Stars used to identify Jews during the Holocaust. Jews were forced to wear a badge in the form of a Yellow Star as a means of identifying them easily. The star was intended to humiliate, isolate and eventually annihilate 6 million Jews during the Holocaust. This form of appropriation by the Oklahoma Republican Party is hugely inappropriate and offensive. Using this symbol trivializes the six million Jews slaughtered in the Holocaust. It is simply wrong to compare the plight of the Jews during the Holocaust to that of anti-vaxxers. Those interested in pushing their social or political agenda about the pandemic should be able to find another way without trivializing the memory of the six million Jews that were murdered and the survivors of the Holocaust.”

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