A Kentucky dad who dressed up his 5-year-old son as Adolf Hitler – and himself as a Nazi soldier – for a Halloween event has apologized after a furious backlash.

“I wasn’t trying to make a statement or put my son in any position,” Bryant Goldbach of Owensboro, Kentucky, told The Owensboro Times. “It was bad judgment. I want people to know I am sorry.”

Goldbach insisted that he is not a racist and said he believes white supremacy is “disgusting,” according to the news outlet.

“My brother is half-Iranian,” Goldbach said. “I have black friends. My last name is Jewish.”

A photo of Goldbach and his son in costume surfaced across social media and went viral late last week, resulting in widespread criticism.

Goldbach claimed he’s received death threats.

“I understand that people are mad, but please leave my family alone,” he whined to The Owensboro Times.

It was a far cry from his initial response to the public anger over the outfits.

Goldbach and his son wore their Nazi costumes to a local Halloween gathering Thursday in downtown Owensboro dubbed the “Trail of Treats.” After Goldbach was angrily confronted by other trick-or-treaters at the 5,000 person event, he defended himself on Facebook.

“Anyone who knows us knows that we love history, and often dress the part of historical figures. Tonight as we walked we saw people dressed as murderers, devils, serial killers, blood and gore of all sorts. Nobody batted an eye,” Goldbach wrote in a post on Facebook, according to a screen grab published by the Huffington Post.

“But my little boy and i, dress as historical figures, and it merits people not only making snide remarks, but approaching us and threatening my little 5 year old boy. Thats right. Tonight grown adults threatened a child over his costume. Threatened his mom and dad as well. Threatened to rip his outfit off of him screaming obscentiies, scareing a small child,” the misspelled post read.

The post continued: “You are messing with fire…Yes, liberalism is alive and well. And we had the dis-pleasure of dealing with the fruits of the so called ‘Tolerant Left.’”

Goldbach, who has performed in Civil War and World War II reenactments, later told The Owensboro Times that he “didn’t think it through” when his son asked to match his costume this year.

“I now understand what that costume means to other people,” the father of four said.