Walmart removed t-shirts from its website that called for lynching reporters after a radio association pointed out the shirts to the corporation Wednesday.
The Radio Television Digital News Association sent a letter to Walmart calling for the shirts to be removed from the site because they “openly encouraged violence” against reporters, according to NPR. The black shirts read “Rope. Tree. Journalists. Some Assembly Required” on the back.
“It is our belief that at the least, T-Shirts or any other items bearing such words simply inflame the passions of those who either don’t like, or don’t understand, the news media. At worst, they openly encourage violence targeting journalists. We believe they are particularly inflammatory within the context of today’s vitriolic political and ideological environment,” RTDNA Executive Director Dan Shelley said in an email to Walmart.
The corporation promptly removed the t-shirts from the website, saying they violated the company’s policies. The shirts came from a third-party seller, Teespring, that was selling its products on Walmart’s online store.
“We removed it as soon as it was brought to our attention, and are conducting a thorough review of the seller’s assortment,” Walmart said in a statement.
Teespring said it had also removed the shirt from its own site, saying “While a very small amount of problematic content does still slip through our filters, we are working hard to close those gaps and continue to improve our systems.”
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