Chris Matthews Asks if Rich Iott’s Nazi Reenactments are ‘Homoerotic’

On the heels of some back-and-forth between top GOP Young Gun Eric Cantor and Nazi-Reenacting Congressional Candidate Rich Iott, Hardball‘s Chris Matthews interviewed the man who broke the story, The Atlantic‘s Joshua Green. The interview took a hilarious turn, however, when Matthews asked Green “Is this some kind of homoerotic thing they do, they put on these uniforms and dance around? What do they actually do?”

Green starts to answer, and Matthews asks, more insistently, “What do they do?”

Here’s the instantly classic clip:

Matthews isn’t actually that far off base. According to Wikipedia, Nazi apparel figures heavily in some fetish play, but historical accuracy is not a sticking point:

Nazi chic is a controversial topic in the fetish clothing subculture. The symbolism of fascist, communist, and other ideologies remains popular, and a common compromise is to adopt the main design features of Nazi-era clothing– such as peaked caps, jackboots and trenchcoats– but not to include any explicit Nazi symbols. Sometimes substitute symbols are used, with designs that clearly reference the design styles of Nazi symbols without directly copying them.

Whatever floats Das Boot, I guess. Iott’s activities, however, appear to be strictly platonic, if ill-advised.

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!