Amazon to Remove Man in the High Castle Nazi Symbols From NYC Subway Cars

Following a copious amount of backlash, Amazon Studios has decided to kill their NYC subway ad campaign by removing the Nazi imagery they put in to promote The Man in the High Castle.

While the show depicts an alternate historical timeline where Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan win WWII, people were less than enthused for it when they stepped into MTA subway cars and found it decked out in Axis symbols. Pictures taken inside the car show one side bearing the Imperial Eagle on its seats, while the other side bore Japan’s Rising Sun flags.

Variety reported today that although Amazon hasn’t commented on the outrage, an email confirming the removal was sent from a spokesman for the New York City Transit and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. “Amazon has just decided to pull the ads,” said Kevin Ortiz.

While the ads were acceptable under advertising guidelines, CBS noted that many people, including Mayor Bill de Blasio, were not happy with the extremist display.

“While these ads technically may be within MTA guidelines, they’re irresponsible and offensive to World War II and Holocaust survivors, their families, and countless other New Yorkers,” de Blasio said in a statement. “Amazon should take them down.”

The MTA bans political and advocacy ads, but Ortiz explained in the email that since the symbols were part of a commercialized show, they were not under the same standards and could be run despite being in bad taste.

“The ads do not violate our content-neutral ad standards and thus we have no grounds to reject them,” Ortiz said. “The MTA is a government agency and can’t accept or reject ads based on how we feel about them; we have to follow the standards approved by our board.”

[image via Twitter]