Man who yelled ‘Heil Hitler! Heil Trump!’ painted by media, leftists as pro-Trump. Uh, not so fast.

Dave Urbanski

Article GoalINFORM

You probably caught wind of the commotion at a “Fiddler on the Roof” performance last week in Baltimore when an audience member shouted “Heil Hitler! Heil Trump!”

Some in the media and on the left sure did — and they had a pretty good idea of who this guy is. In other words, a big, bad fan of President Donald Trump:

Uh, not so fast

Well, it turns out that amid all the hand-wringing and mud-slinging, the guy who shouted “Heil Hitler! Heil Trump!” at Baltimore’s Hippodrome Theatre on Wednesday is actually anti-Trump and wasn’t too proud of his actions.

“I’m so embarrassed and ashamed and disgusted with myself,” Tony Derlunas, 58, told WBAL-TV. “I didn’t think at the time about my frustrations with President Trump, and I was trying to compare Trump to Hitler because he plays into the fears of people and it just came out wrong.”

NBC News ran a headline stating “A man yelled ‘Heil Hitler, Heil Trump’ at ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ show in Baltimore, sparking fear in the audience” but buried the fact that the culprit was actually anti-Trump in the 12th paragraph of a 14-paragraph story.

Derlunas wouldn’t show his face to WBAL’s camera and was in tears during the interview.

“I just want everybody to know I am sincerely sorry,” he added to WBAL. “I opened my mouth, and it was so wrong, and I know that now. In the moment, it was just my frustration. I don’t know what I was thinking. I am so ashamed. My heart goes out to all those that I ruined their night, to everybody that was affected by my stupidity.”

His actions struck fear in fellow audience members, the station said, adding that 911 was called, and Derlunas was removed from the venue and banned for life.

Baltimore police are investigating the incident as a hate-bias case, WBAL said, adding that Derlunas said he was going for opposite effect. He added to the station that he rarely drinks but that he had several drinks that night, which may have affected his behavior.

Derlunas added to the station that he’s reached out to Jewish community groups and talked with leaders in an effort to make amends.