An aspiring India-based LinkedIn influencer who worked for the consulting giant Deloitte apologized over the weekend for a recent post in which he fulsomely praised Adolf Hitler. In the post, he wrote that, like everyone, the German leader had “some good and some not so good qualities,” in service of a point about what could be learned from his domestic popularity.
The apology was quickly deleted, as was the original post. Deloitte’s media relations staff, as well as the office of its chief executive officer, proved unavailable and did not respond to repeated requests for comment. Motherboard confirmed through a source that Neerabh Mehrotra, the influencer, worked for Deloitte; it is unclear if he still works at the company.
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All of this comes back to a LinkedIn post titled “Friday Inspiration,” in which Mehrotra, who represented himself as an associate director in Deloitte’s risk advisory department, wrote that he had recently learned that for all of Hitler’s negative qualities, the leader of the Third Reich had some characteristics from which people could learn, including being “extremely confident,” “very intellectual,” and a “massive action taker.” Hitler was of course famously decisive when he started World War II and systematically murdered millions of Jews, homosexuals, critics, people with disabilities, and members of other groups he disliked.
“People used to enjoy his energetic and patriotic speeches and his pure intention for great Germany,” wrote Mehrotra on LinkedIn, where he frequently posted in the energetic style associated with those who have built successful careers on the resume site. “As the Nazi salute says,” he ended his post, “‘Heil Hitler!’” He then asked his followers to sound off in the comments.
The post was soon screenshotted and circulated online, leading Mehrotra to write an apology, saying he “had no intention” of hurting anyone’s feelings, “should have been more careful,” and would not “write anything about such personalities in the future.” He also asked for forgiveness and for the broader LinkedIn community to “continue our growth journey with full force.”
Mehrotra’s own LinkedIn journey appeared to end shortly thereafter, with him deleting both the original post and apology, and, after Motherboard reached out to Mehrotra for comment on Monday morning, his LinkedIn account as well.
