A New Jersey sports official who told student athletes Adolf Hitler was a “good leader” with “bad moral character and intentions” has been suspended.

The Nutley Board of Education took the action Monday night against high school athletic director Joe Piro, who made the remark last month while addressing Madison High School students during an assembly aimed at promoting positive leadership.

Piro has said he was trying to make a point that “a leader could have strong leadership skills that influence people in a negative way.” He says he understands “Hitler was an evil man who used his skills in a horrific manner.”

The Madison district’s superintendent has said Piro’s presentation was “unnecessarily provocative and insensitive.”

Piro showed a photo of Hitler as part of a side-by-side comparison with Martin Luther King Jr.

(AP)