Hyatt Hotels Corporation called the hate symbols “abhorrent” on Sunday after the design of a stage at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at one of its hotels compared it to a Nordic rune used by the Nazis during World War II
High-profile Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, were participating in the four-day event in Orlando, Florida, as the conflict intensified between Trump’s allies and establishment politicians who were trying to distance his party.
A photo of the CPAC stage went viral on social media on Saturday, with thousands of Twitter users sharing posts comparing its distinctive design to an othala rune, also known as the odal rune, one of the many ancient European symbols that the Nazis adopted for ” reconstruct a mythical ‘Aryan’ past, ”according to the Anti-Defamation League.
The ceiling of the conference room featured a lighting screen in the same shape as the stage, according to photos from Reuters.
Hyatt said that all aspects of the conference’s logistics, including the stage design, were managed by the American Conservative Union, which organized the conference.
The comparisons were “outrageous and slanderous”, Matt Schlapp, president of the American Conservative Union, said on Saturday. He added that the organization has a “longstanding commitment to the Jewish community” and that the conference had several Jewish speakers.
In his statement on Sunday, Hyatt said: “We take the concern raised about the possibility of hate symbols being included in the stage design at CPAC 2021 very seriously, since all of these symbols are abominable and unequivocally against our values as a company . ”
Some supporters of Trump, who launched a deadly uprising against the United States Capitol on January 6, carried flags of the Confederates, which many Americans see as a symbol of oppression and slavery. Extremism experts said some of the protesters were members of white nationalist groups.
The rune was seen at the white supremacy rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, which saw violent fighting with counter-protesters and a civil rights activist killed when a neofascist drove his car through the crowd.
The neo-Nazis have used the Rune Odal sign in place of the swastika for several years.
The CPAC stage has the same format.
The photo on the left is from Charlotteville in 2017. pic.twitter.com/6Ylt2U4U3C
– Kimberley Johnson (@AuthorKimberley) February 27, 2021
Joe Biden cited this event and Trump’s assessment at the time that there were “very good people on both sides” as a factor in his motivation to run for the Democratic nomination, winning the presidency in November 2020.
Trump’s presence dominated this year’s CPAC, with his supporters parading a huge gold statue of him in the hotel lobby.
With Reuters