Montreal Police Investigating Offensive ‘Gas Chamber’ Video Posted on TikTok

A reflection of the US flag is seen on the sign of the TikTok app in this illustration picture taken September 19, 2020. Photo: Reuters/Florence Lo/Illustration

Police in Montreal said on Thursday that they were investigating an antisemitic video posted to the TikTok social media platform in which a man opened his kitchen oven to joke about the gassing of Jewish victims of the Nazis during World War II.

The video was part a viral trend that has become popular, responding to videos asking people to “tell me X without telling me X,” Canadian broadcaster CTV News reported.

In this case, the original callout asked people to “tell me you’re Jewish without telling me you’re Jewish.”

A man responded with his own video, saying in French, “I’m not Jewish, but I want to adopt one.”

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“I even made them a bed so that they can feel at home,” said the man in the video, opening his kitchen oven to show a pillow and blankets, referencing the large crematoria used to dispose of the bodies of Jewish people murdered in Nazi extermination camps.

Lauren Lieberman, a member of Montreal’s Jewish community, told CTV News that the video had left her “speechless.”

“My grandparents were in the Holocaust,” she said.

Lieberman said she reached out to the original poster to explain why she took issue with his video, and to ask for a public apology.

The poster did release an apology on Tuesday, writing that it was not his intention to discriminate against anyone, “but rather to make you laugh.”

“Some found it funny, but several people who lost members of their family during [the Holocaust] took it very badly and I understand their point of view,” he wrote. “I would also like to take the time to say sorry to each community or person that this video may have affected, views and followers count less than the wellbeing of a person in my opinion.”

TikTok, a Chinese-owned company, is frequently spotlighted for its willingness to host content that other platforms deem offensive.

The hate crimes unit of the Montreal police is now investigating the video. A police spokesperson told CTV News they were still in the process of verifying the source of the content to determine whether it falls within their jurisdiction

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