Nazi-style outfits worn by dance troupe on Australian talent show cause stir

18 November 2010

An episode of the popular Australian talent show ‘The X Factor’ featured the American rapper and pop singer Ke$ha performing her hit single ‘We R Who We R’ with a dance troupe wearing costumes and caps similar to those worn by Nazi SS fighters during World War II. However, the singer said that she asked the dance troupe to change their outfit  shortly before the performance.

“The costumes, which had been supplied locally, had the dancers wearing red armbands, and Ke$ha was concerned they looked like Nazi uniforms and requested they be removed, as this was simply not part of the brief,” a spokeswoman for Sony Inc. told an Australian news website. One insider said that ’Channel 7’ had made the dance troupe remove the armbands in fear of public outrage: “They were on set with army uniforms complete with swastikas.” Instead, they wore red $ insignias.

Ashley Evans, director of the dance company Squared Division, said the Nazi element had never been intended. "The whole idea behind the performance was that Ke$ha was a dance commander, and the dancers were her army," he told the Australian newspaper ‘Herald Sun’, adding: "The costumes were hired and it was Ke$ha who said they looked a bit Nazi and asked for them to be changed.” The singer herself did not feature any of the emblems.

WJC and the Legacy of the Holocaust