Martial arts artist Attila Petrovszki was reportedly disinvited from the May 17 event after organizers of the show found themselves immersed in a wave of controversy.
According to Radio Prague, Petrovszki’s “chest features large tattoos of Hitler and a swastika, and the words ‘Death of the Jews’ [are] scrawled across his abdomen.”
The event’s promoter, Ladislav Kutil, told Radio Prague the fighter’s appearance had been cancelled due to “media pressure” on the Heroes Gate martial arts tournament and its sponsors, which include gyms, car dealerships and even Pepsi.
Heroes Gate since released a statement claiming that the fighter was no longer active in neo-Nazi activities and that the tattoos were the result of a troubled youth.
In recent years anti-Semitism in Hungary has skyrocketed, prompting the World Jewish Congress to hold its annual gathering in Budapest as a show of solidarity with the local Jewish community. The stark increase is most widely attributed to the rise of the neo-Nazi Jobbik political party.