HALIFAX — The Dawgfather removed offensive and sensitive tweets from his Twitter page Jan. 16 and added several apologies to his followers in the wake of his anti-Semitic postings earlier in the week.
Jerry Reddick, a proud Muslim who has sold hot dogs outside Dalhousie University’s Student Union Building for many years under the name Dawgfather, tweeted several racist messages Jan. 14 under the same name, many about Jews, the Holocaust and ovens.
“I used a sledgehammer to get my point across about the double standard in free speech. I was wrong and I apologize!” he tweeted Jan. 16.
He added: “I made hateful comments which were completely out of character and downright mean to my Jewish friends. I can't explain it! Forgive me!!!?”
On the morning of Jan. 16, his hot dog cart was also absent, something he attributed to “other business. I will be back next month after visiting family out west.”
Halifax police continue to investigate the offensive posts. Police spokesperson Const. Pierre Bourdages, said a complaint was received about anti-Semitic posts on-line. “The investigation has been assigned to the general investigation section, but there have been no charges and arrests.”
The Dawgfather said his hot dog cart would be back Jan. 19, citing “working on other things” as the reason for its absence from the campus in the last few days.
Reddick admitted he posted the Twitter messages to prove a point about the different standards applied to freedom of expression, particularly related to world-wide comment on the Charlie Hebdo and kosher market shootings in Paris.
Reddick said in one post, “Yeah! This is what freedom of speech looks like from the other side.”
Another post stated, “No group of people has more right than the other to express themselves. Muslims have never ever said any foul things about Jesus or Moses.”
His remarks were made public on the day an event recognizing International Holocaust Remembrance Day and the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz was being held at the Nova Scotia Archives.
“The man is either demented, crazy or looking for trouble,” Jon Goldberg, executive director of the Atlantic Jewish Council, said when he was shown a post that read, “How does freedom of expression look when it’s not about Prophet Muhammad, s.a.w. Let’s send ovens to all the Jews.”
“It’s right out of Goebbels, Himmler and Hitler,” Goldberg said, adding the posts violate the country’s hate crime laws.
Another post read, “Hitler asked his people, “How do you like your Jews”? Well done with a bagel and a kosher pickle. Freedom of speech goes both ways.”
Reddick also tweeted, “What do you call a Jew sitting in one of Hitler’s ovens? Toast, because they’re cooked. Freedom of speech goes both ways!” And, “What does one Jew say to the other Jew when they walk by a hot oven? Do you recognize anyone?”
Another post read: “In 2001 I thought Americans could fly by the way they were jumping from the twin towers in New York.”
Goldberg said the comments make it clear that Reddick doesn’t care who his words hurt, including survivors of World War II.
In one of his posts, Reddick insisted he is not anti-Semitic. “I respect all people. Nobody agrees with what them boys did in France, nobody. I just wanted to point out the hypocrisy.”
In a Jan. 15 tweeted response to Goldberg, Reddick said: “Jon Goldberg should remember who ran and financed the trans Atlantic slave trade before he jumps on me.”
He added: “I proved my point when Jon Goldberg comes out and compares me to a Nazi but he said nothing when a cartoon depicted Muhammad as a terrorist?”
Goldberg said he’d like to see the city rescind the Dawgfather’s hot dog cart license, “now that we know exactly how he feels about members of our community.”
Among the tweeted responses to Reddick were messages such as, “comparing a cartoon to the biggest genocide in history..” and “You’re not just racist, you’re a f—ing LUNATIC. I hope Dal gets wise and boycotts your idiot ass.”
Another poster said “You take stupid to a whole new level. I feel sorry for your kids.”