Greta Thunberg's Anti-Semitic Octopus Controversy

This entry contains content that may be considered sensitive to some viewers.

Submission 34,368

Part of a series on Greta Thunberg. [View Related Entries]

Overview

Greta Thunberg's Anti-Semitic Octopus Controversy refers to a viral social media post made by Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg on her Instagram in which she along with three others, took a stand by declaring their support for Palestine and Gaza amid the 2023 Israel-Hamas Conflict. The octopus was subsequently accused of being an antisemitic dog whistle by some due to its perceived resemblance to an antisemitic propaganda poster from World War II, leading Thunberg to deny it was meant to represent an anti-Jewish sentiment and was simply used as a comforting toy for neurodivergent people.

Background

On October 20th, 2023, Greta Thunberg uploaded a picture to her socials^[1] showing her and three others holding up signs in support of Palestine. In the post, which was deleted and reuploaded as a cropped version, a small blue plush of an octopus can be seen sitting behind her. The octopus was quickly recognized as coming from a line of toys in which the idea behind it is that the octopus has a smiling happy face while pink, but when flipped upside down it reveals a frowning, blue face (shown below).

gretathunberg ✪ FREE PALESTINE THIS JEW STANDS WITH PALESTINE CLIMATE JUSTICE ENOW! ******* STAND WITH GAZA ...

Shortly after her post was published, people began to point out that the octopus, being blue and in the context of something revolving around Israel, made it seem like a callback to an old WW2 propaganda poster made to depict Winston Churchill as a Zionist. On October 20th, 2023, X user @Imamofpeace^[2] posted the propaganda piece with context, captioning the post as asking if Thunberg did the octopus on purpose (shown below).

MENU Photo HOLOCAUST ENCYCLOPEDIA RESET 85 Ơ ANTI-JEWISH PROPAGANDA Propaganda cartoon by Seppla (Josef Plank) warning of a worldwide Jewish conspiracy. The cartoon depicts an octopus with a Star of David over its head and tentacles encompassing a globe. Germany, date uncertain.

Soon after, Thunberg submitted a post to X^[5] denying that the octopus was intended as a dog whistle, but that it was just a common toy used to comfort people with autism.

Greta Thunberg @GretaThunberg It has come to my knowledge that the stuffed animal shown in my earlier post can be interpreted as a symbol for antisemitism, which I was completely unaware of. The toy in the picture is a tool often used by autistic people as a way to communicate feelings. : We are of course against any type of discrimination, and condemn antisemitism in all forms and shapes. This is non-negotiable. That is why I deleted the last post. 9:13 AM - Oct 20, 2023 5.3M Views .

Online Reactions

On October 20th, 2023, X user @CyberPunkCortes^[3] uploaded an edited version of Thunberg and the octopus, adding on a Hitler mustache and haircut and captioning the image as calling the octopus a "Hitler octopus" (shown below).

Hernan Cortes @CyberPunkCortes The plush toy? It's a Hitler octopus, it helps with autism. Yeah! STAND WITH GAZA

Also on October 20th, X user @nxtpeyton7^[4] uploaded a picture of the octopus plush in both its pink and blue mode as a QRT to Thunberg's apology tweet about the perceived anti-semitism. In the QRT, @nxtpeyton7 pushed back on the labeling of it being anti-semitic, stating that calling Thunberg anti-semitic over a children's toy was "absolutely insane" (shown below).