Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner covers up controversial tattoo: What to know

• In a video of Platner singing shirtless at his brother’s wedding, a tattoo of a skull and crossbones that appears to resemble a Nazi symbol is visible on his chest.
• In an interview with Pod Save America, Platner said he got the tattoo while drinking with fellow Marines in Croatia and had never been told it had a Nazi affiliation.
• In an interview with Vanity Fair, Platner said he covered the tattoo "with some kind of Celtic knot with a dog on it, because that’s far more in line with my opinions.”

Graham Platner, a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Maine, says he has covered up a tattoo that people said resembled a Nazi symbol, his campaign confirmed to USA TODAY.

His campaign did not say what the new tattoo is. But in an interview with Vanity Fair, Platner said he covered the tattoo "with some kind of Celtic knot with a dog on it, because that’s far more in line with my opinions.”

Platner has come under fire in the past week for the tattoo as well as some now-deleted Reddit posts.

What was Graham Platner's tattoo?

In a video of Platner singing shirtless at his brother’s wedding, a tattoo of a skull and crossbones is visible on his chest. Some said it resembled a Totenkopf, a skull and crossbones image used by Nazis.

In an interview with Pod Save America, Platner said he got the tattoo while drinking with fellow Marines in Croatia while serving his third deployment. He said they chose a skull and crossbones because they are a “standard military thing” and had never been told that it had a Nazi affiliation.

“I am not a secret Nazi,” Platner said. “At no point in this entire experience of my life did anyone ever once say, ‘Hey, you’re a Nazi.’”

Platner Reddit controversy

The tattoo controversy comes after recent criticism for posts Platner made on Reddit forums four years ago in which he called himself a socialist-turned-communist, said all police are bastards and that rural White Americans "actually are" racist and stupid, CNN reported.

According to the Bangor (Maine) Daily News, Platner also questioned in one Reddit reply, “Why don’t black people tip?” The political candidate once worked as a bartender at Tune Inn in Washington, D.C.

Graham Platner shared a video addressing the comments on Oct. 17, saying they were made during “an earlier part of” his life, and he no longer agrees with the things he said. He said that he made the comments when he was struggling mentally after returning from the military.

Calling the comments “the dumbest thing I ever wrote on the internet,” he said he wants to be judged based on who he is today.

His former political director, Genevieve McDonald, resigned over the Reddit comments.

Bernie Sanders sticks with Platner

Platner is running for the chance to take on Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine for one of Maine's Senate seats. He will face a host of challengers in the Democratic primary, including Maine Gov. Janet Mills.

Both Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-V.T., and Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., who previously endorsed Platner, are sticking with him despite the revelations.

“Graham has made a lot of mistakes in his life, he’s had a very long journey to the place where he is today, but he’s owned those mistakes, and he’s evolved and that’s what leadership looks like,” said Heinrich on CNN.

Contributing: Saleen Martin