General Discussion

I am inclined to cut some slack for a tattoo someone got when they were young and drunk. Especially since he had enough sense to get it covered up when he realized it was problematic.

I also agree about the desth's head/Nazi association being omewhat niche knowledge. When I heard he had a Nazi tattoo, I assumed it was a swastika or maybe the SS double lightning bolt runes.

I had to do some research just now to find out exactly what the totenkopf used by Nazis looks like, and one thing I found out is that it's not just a skull, with or without crossbones. It's a very specific rendition of a skull and bones that is distinct in many ways from the kind you might see on a Halloween costume pirate hat. (I won't post a pic here, but anyone who wants to know what it looked like can easily find out by googling .)

If that is what Platner's tattoo originally looked like, I'd say getting it was a pretty big oops, but assuming he knew exactly what it was is a stretch, imo. I'm pretty sure a lot of people would look at it and think "Pirates, arrrrr!" rather than recognizing it as a Nazi symbol. Unfortunately, those who know what a totenkopf is won't be able to unsee the Nazi association, so covering it up was a good idea, imo. Completely removing it would be even better, but that's a lot more expensive as well as time coneuming.