Madison Children's Museum

Statement 11/1/2022

This evening, Madison Children’s Museum terminated the employment of the employee involved in the Halloween incident (10/31/2022 statement, below).

The organization has determined that his continued employment would create an environment at odds with our values and unwelcoming to visitors and staff. 

We still hope to facilitate a restorative justice process to redress the harm done to the community while allowing him to understand the effects of his actions and accept accountability.

Statement 10/31/2022

As widely reported, Saturday night a man in the Downtown area dressed and otherwise portrayed himself as Hitler. It has come to our attention that this person is a Madison Children’s Museum employee. 

This is completely unacceptable and runs counter to everything the museum believes. We stand against antisemitism and all forms of bigotry and discrimination. 

He has been suspended while we investigate. 

This employee has cognitive disabilities due to a traumatic brain injury. His work with the museum over the past 10 years has been closely supervised, coached, and supported. It is our understanding that he believed his costume to be mocking Hitler. 

Regardless of his ongoing employment status, we hope to engage this individual in a restorative justice process that would redress the harm done to the community while allowing him to understand the effects of his actions and accept accountability.