Racist and pro-Nazi messages appeared on at least three digital billboards in metro Detroit over the weekend to celebrate Adolf Hitler’s birthday.
A group dubbed “White Lives Matter Michigan” took credit for the signs in Hazel Park, Mount Clemens, and Brownstown.
“White Lives Matter Michigan permeated censorship to obtain three roadside billboards throughout Southeastern Michigan to dog-whistle morale boosting messages to pro-Whites for this 4/20 Day of Action!” the group tweeted Saturday.
April 20 is Hitler’s birthday and is widely celebrated by white supremacists.
The messages were intended to deceive billboard companies by using somewhat veiled references to Hitler, Nazis, and other white supremacists.
A billboard on John R Road in Hazel Park, for instance, read, “Happy birthday, Uncle Adi. 88 climbs! Hugs & Kisses to HT, GDL, & GTV.” Next to it is a semi-silhouetted face with Hitler’s distinctive peaked hat.
“Adi” is a popular nickname for Adolf, and “88” is a white supremacist numerical code for “Heil Hitler.” “GDL” stands for Goyim Defense League, an American neo-Nazi, antisemitic hate group that promotes conspiracy theories and has been banned by most social media sites. “HT” stands for “Handsome Truth,” which is the nickname for Jon Minadeo, the neo-Nazi leader of the Goyim Defense League. “GTV” is an abbreviation for Goyim TV.
Across the street from the billboard stickers were found that read, “White Lives Matter,” “GDL,” and “Reject Poison. Embrace Purity.”
A billboard near the Gibraltar Trade Center in Mount Clemens read, “Go back to Africa!” and disguised itself as a congratulatory message to “Tryone” for earning a trip after scoring 1350 on the SATs. “1350” is a racist code that references an alleged FBI study that claimed 50% of crimes are committed by Black people, who represent 13% of the population.
In a written message to Metro Times, a representative of White Lives Matter Michigan said the “ultimate motive for the billboards and any of our activism is that we must secure the existence of our people and a future for White children.”
“Whites face inevitable genocide if the current trend of brown immigration, anti-White hatred, and White victimization continue,” the representative wrote. “It’s openly stated that Whites will be minorities in their own nations within decades.”
The message was much longer, but Metro Times is declining to share it to avoid giving the group a larger platform to spread hate and misinformation.
The billboard companies responsible for the messages apologized in a statement to Metro Times.
The messages were purchased through Billboard4Me.com and displayed on billboards owned by 5 Star Outdoor, a local company.
Billboard4Me said the deceitful messaging was discreet enough to make it past the company’s filters and that the messages were purchased by “an organization that disguised itself and its purpose with deceptive imagery and wording.”
“The group used silhouetted images, acronyms, and other deceptive tactics to get past our initial screening process,” the company said.
“A good samaritan discovered the images on the group’s [X] profile and let us know that these boards were deceptive, upon which we immediately removed them.”
Over the past four years, the company said it has posted thousands of personal messages for birthdays, anniversaries, and memorials and until Saturday “has never posted messages of this kind.”
Billboard4Me pledged to do a better job screening messages in the future.
“We have since implemented better safety protocols to screen all billboard ads that come through our system,” the company said. “We will be adding another set of human eyes to inspect all ads. We will search all names, photos, dates, and abbreviations to ensure no hidden agendas are being promoted in the ads.”
Billboard4Me expressed remorse.
“We recognize that we made a huge mistake by not catching these hidden messages before they were posted and sincerely apologize to the communities in Michigan and everyone who had to see them,” the company said. “We pledge to do everything we can so that something like this never happens again.”
5 Star Outdoor, which owns the billboard, also apologized and said it would try harder to avoid a similar situation.
“The ads were purchased through a third party,” 5 Star Outdoor said in a statement. “They were immediately removed upon notice. We are very sorry this happened and we are doing everything we can to make sure this won’t happen again.”
The billboards were first shared on Reddit on Saturday, prompting outrage that the messages were displayed.
“It’s sad that any billboard owner would be even willing to rent space for these,” A Reddit user by the name of codece wrote.
Rule 322 responded, “Like... ONE of these has the slightest SLIVER of plausible deniability. The other two are brazen and even more sickening.”
Another billboard in Brownstown read, “Happy anniversary, Mr. & Mrs. White. 14 Kids & 88 Years! Love W.L.M. & M.I.”
“14” is a reference to a popular white supremacist slogan: "We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children."
“W.L.M. & M.I.” refers to White Lives Matter Michigan.
On its X page, White Lives Michigan posted below an image of the billboard, “Such an enduring marriage and so many White children!”
Photos of the billboards were retweeted by the Great Lakes Active Club,” a Michigan-based neo-fascist group.
On Reddit, one user wrote, “Why are people so fucking dumb and terrible?”
Another responded, “Because too many people allow scumbags’ lives to be comfortable and easy.”
