Priest finds picture of Hitler, swastika symbol on pillow bought from Walmart

FRESNO, Calif. — Walmart is under fire after a California priest found a symbol of hate on a pillow he purchased from the store's website.

Ryan Newman is a priest at Saint James Episcopal Church in Fresno. He and his family just moved to the area and were looking for items to decorate their new home.
 
Newman did a quick search for "Paris-themed" pillows and, a few minutes later, he bought one from Walmart.com.

When the pillow arrived, Newman noticed an Adolf Hitler postage stamp and a swastika symbol were featured in the design. He and his wife said they felt violated that the pillow was in their home.

"I was like, 'How can this happen? How can this be? How could this get through the Walmart buying channels?'" Newman told KSEE. "This is personal. Both my wife and I have Jewish heritage, and my wife has direct descendants from the Holocaust in Germany, so this, to us, is a symbol of hate."

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Walmart told Newman that the pillow was listed by a third-party seller and that it's in violation of the store's policy.

In a written statement, Walmart said: "We regularly scan our marketplace for these types of items, but unfortunately, the offensive image wasn't visible on the pillow's photo and we were not aware of it until the customer reached out."
 
Walmart said it removed the item from its online marketplace and that it's reviewing other items listed by the seller.

NBC/KSEE