News 21 February 2017
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Author: Marisa Lee

Are these ‘Walking Dead’ Primark t-shirts racist?

Author Marisa Lee
21 February 2017
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Primark has pulled a range of The Walking Dead tees from all of its branches after complaints that they were racist. 

The tee features an image of the bloody baseball bat named “Lucille” that evil character Negan uses, referencing the mad season six finale which saw him choose which character to murder by using the game “Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe.”

However, customers have been offended by the t-shirt and are complaining that it is racist, with Sheffield couple Ian and Gwen Lucraft complaining to management. Methodist Minister Mr Lucraft pointed out that the 18th century rhyme was originally finished with the line “catch a n***er by his toe,” although ‘tiger’ was used to replace the racial slur in the modern version.

He said, “We were shocked when we came face to face with a new t-shirt with a racially explicit graphic and text. It was fantastically offensive and I can only assume that no-one in the process of ordering it knew what they were doing or were aware of its subliminal messages.”

He claimed the graphics “relate directly to the practice of assaulting black people in America. It is directly threatening of a racist assault, and if I were black and were faced by a wearer I would know just where I stood.’”

Bosses decided to remove them and released the following statement: “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 offence caused by its design was wholly unintentional and Primark sincerely apologises for this.”


Yet, black people took to Twitter to voice their confusion over Lucraft’s outrage.

Do you think the tees are racist? Hit us up on Twitter and let us know your thoughts.