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Who is Paul Marcum? 'Nazi' tennis instructor fired for 'Heil Hitler' at mask meet

Marcum was fired from his job as a tennis instructor at the Sports Club of West Bloomfield

BLOOMFIELD, MICHIGAN: Michigan man Paul Marcum who flashed a Nazi salute and yelled "Heil Hitler" during a school meeting on mask mandate probably did not expect things to take the turn they did. As per the latest reports, he was fired from his job as a tennis instructor at the Sports Club of West Bloomfield. 

The firing comes from his racist actions at a Birmingham Board of Education meeting on August 18, 2021. During the meeting, school officials, teachers and parents met to discuss a potential mask mandate being put in place for the 2021-2022 school year. This is when Marcum expressed his disapproval by flashing the Nazi salute and repeating “Heil Hitler” while a Black woman and Jewish woman were at the podium showing their support for the school district’s new mask mandate.

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The man made the gesture toward Suzanne Busdiecker, who is Jewish, and two African-American women, as per reports. When police caught up with Marcum, they questioned him and witnesses regarding the incident. However, an official statement by them is yet to be made. 

Who is Paul Marcum?

On Monday, Marcum of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, was fired from his job as a tennis instructor at the Sports Club of West Bloomfield. He worked at the Sports Club of West Bloomfield every fall, but the owner of the establishment contacted the Metro Times to confirm his termination. Marcum is also the owner of Paul Marcum's Tennis Service LLC.

After the meeting, Superintendent of Birmingham Public Schools Embekka Roberson issued a statement to the Metro Times on behalf of the school district. "Birmingham Public Schools emphatically denounces and will not tolerate any act of racism, disrespect, violence, and/or inequitable treatment of any person, including actions and statements made at Board of Education meetings," said Roberson. "It is in situations when people feel strongly about a matter, and emotions run high, that we most need to model appropriate behaviors for our students," Roberson continued. "Last night's meeting did not consistently display the behaviors that we expect from our students and community."

The August 18 school meeting was quite chaotic as anti-maskers booed and shouted insults at board members and speakers who showed support of masks and face coverings for the 2021-2022 school year.

Many anti-maskers reportedly also told board members that masks are dangerous and children don't carry the risk of spreading Covid.

One such parent was Nicole Humphrey, who reportedly told the school board she's removing her daughter from the school district because she doesn't want her daughter to be subjected to the potential mandate.

"Hearing that the only way she can attend in-person learning is by wearing a mask is unconscionable," she told the board. "It is not going to happen. It is like asking us to knowingly send her to a place that is abusing her and being like, 'Oh well.' It's not ok."

Another parent reportedly told the school board that "God didn't intend for us to wear masks," and that children should be unbound. "Our children will never see the freedoms we enjoyed growing up," she said. "They are not even free to breathe fresh air. If God wanted us to cover our mouth and nose, he would have made us that way."

On social media, many are applauding the fact that he was fired. "I hope this follows Paul Marcum, wherever he goes," one user wrote. Another added, "Paul Marcum of Bloomfield Hills, ladies and gents. A Nazi. Find another tennis coach."

Another user wrote, "I am constantly amazed how people will, to this day, gleefully make racist and hate filled rants into the phone cameras of total strangers. Despite the FACT that it ends this way every damned time. That's some sense of entitlement."

And some users broke it down for him. "Everyone is going to know who #PaulMarcum is in a bad way. Antisemitism kills. Wearing masks in a pandemic isn't authoritarianism, it's mitigation against a airborne virus that replicates like crazy."