People Are Pissed Over This 'Racist' T-Shirt From 'The Walking Dead'
Did a clothing distributor cross the line with its latest "The Walking Dead" T-shirt or is this just a case of PC culture overstepping?
Primark is in some hot water after it was forced to remove a T-shirt from stores that referenced a scene from AMC's zombie drama because customers claimed the quote on the shirt had racist undertones.
You can see the shirt here.
Even though the actual history of the nursery rhyme is sort of unknown, it reportedly has roots in racism. At one point, "tiger" -- which is said at the end of the rhyme -- was replaced with the n-word.
The phrase was used by Negan during a scene when he was deciding which member of "The Walking Dead" crew he'd be pummeling with a barbed wire-covered bat.
Primark issued a statement about the shirt after it was pulled from circulation, saying,
The T-shirt in question is licensed merchandise for the US television series, “The Walking Dead,” and the quote and image are taken directly from the show. Any offense caused by its design was wholly unintentional and Primark sincerely apologizes for this.
A large chunk of "Walking Dead" fans are saying this is an overreaction and/or a coincidence that didn't need to be dealt with.
After the shirt was pulled from the stores, a Change.org petition was started asking Primark to bring back the shirt to stores.
The petition writes,
I, as a consumer and fan of the Walking Dead, feel that this is not the right response. The complaint called it "Racist" despite the fact that those buying the shirt are buying it for the sake of the show, as it's an officially licensed product. FYI, the original Eenie Meenie Miny Moe song had the lyrics changed to "tiger" over 40 years ago, and only those older than this know the original, which he falsely claims "everyone knows how it ends" in the article. Also, the man complaining is WHITE. He is taking a mild-mannered shirt and taking it way out of context and is dictating what is and isn't racist on behalf of a group of people, of which he has no right to speak on behalf of. Complaints like this should not be taken seriously and it should be down to those whose actual race/ethnicity are involved to speak up and corporations should not give into white people claiming racist remarks when it is indeed not. If Eenie Meenie Miny Moe is indeed so horribly racist as this man claims, then maybe we should stop children singing it in our playgrounds or maybe I should get arrested for using it to choose which socks I'm wearing today.
Should Primark have pulled the shirts?
Citations: 'Walking Dead' T-Shirt Pulled For Being 'Racist' And 'Offensive' (Huffington Post)
