Benny Blanco has faced backlash online after remarks suggesting he’d want Adolf Hitler as a guest on his podcast.
The music producer appeared on an episode of the Friends Keep Secrets podcast alongside Dave Burd (Lil Dicky) and Kristin Batalucco.
The show is filmed in a reality-style format, with Burd and Batalucco’s home fitted with multiple cameras that capture the trio’s conversations and interactions as they happen.
In one episode uploaded to the podcast’s YouTube channel, the three asked each other a prompt about potential guests.
The question was essentially a podcast-version of a “dream dinner party” scenario — naming the person you’d most want to host — and it led to a response that quickly sparked controversy once the episode aired.
Burd asked: “Enough about brands, ads, let’s talk about guests. Who would be your favourite guest to have on?”
Blanco first asked whether the hypothetical guest could be “dead or alive,” and the group agreed to start with someone who had died.
Batalucco then said: “I wonder if there would be any value in having Hitler on?”
Both Burd and Blanco reacted immediately, each responding: “Oh! That was mine!”
Batalucco explained her reasoning by adding: “Just to see if he takes it all back,” and continued: “And also for the people that believe [the Holocaust] didn’t happen.”
Blanco later added: “I don’t think he takes anything back. I would ask what was the deal, Hit?
“Do you think it would be hypospadias that drove him to insanity?”
Hypospadius is a congenital condition where the urethral opening is located on the underside of the penis rather than at the tip. Some historians, including Jonathan Mayo and Emma Craigie, have suggested Hitler had the condition and a micro-penis, citing medical records, though other historians dispute that claim.
The exchange — and particularly its tone — didn’t land well with many viewers, prompting criticism across social media.
One person wrote: “Ugh, what a lack of awareness… There are so many interesting historical figures to interview and he goes straight for the worst human being in history? Ridiculous indeed.”
Other reactions were more direct, with one user writing: “Wtf is wrong with them”, and another commenting: “What the actual f**k.”
Some commenters also noted Blanco is Jewish. He and his wife Selena Gomez reportedly incorporated a hora — a traditional Jewish circle dance — into their wedding celebrations and have marked Hanukkah together.