Austin St. John, best known for playing Jason Lee Scott aka the Red Ranger in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, has revealed his plans to launch a clothing line featuring Adolf Hitler quotes.
The 49-year-old actor recently shared a tweet announcing the clothing line, which he suggested will explore "history's leaders." He added, "I'm blending lessons from the past into a unique t-shirt line ... From heroes to villains, every quote tells a story. This is more than fashion; it's a conversation starter. Stay tuned for wearable wisdom!" The tweet, however, failed to mention something particularly alarming about the clothing line that he shared on a podcast last month.
During the Feb. 26 episode of Toon'd In With Jim Cummings, he spoke more in-depth about his plans for the clothing line.
"So I have some Ranger-oriented clothes, and then I'm building a warrior line," he said. "I will go back in history from pre-greek days, as far back as I can. I’m gonna have famous quotes from warriors of all ilks, including the terrible ones. Hitler was, you know, a demon on steroids, but he had some pretty good one-liners. So everybody from the great ones to the infamous and terrible ones."
He suggested the idea behind the line is "to look to our past" and "take from them what you can." Other names he shared included Chuck Norris and Bruce Lee.
St. John has responded to the negative reception to the idea, but his former co-star Amy Jo Johnson, who portrayed Kimberly Ann Hart aka the Pink Ranger, shared her take in a pair of tweets.
"Hmmm? I think some people should have publicists. Dear me," she wrote. "Rogue Red Ranger has an entire new meaning. Okay I’ll stop now."
Putting motivational or important quotes from the likes of Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris on t-shirts is relatively harmless, but the idea of putting quotes from the leader of Nazi Germany sounds unhinged, regardless of if people can "learn" from them as St. John suggested. Even if he thinks Hitler was "a demon on steroids," he does not, under any circumstances, gotta hand it to him.
