Walmart's 'Black Lives Matter' t-shirt pulled after police accusations

By

Kate Dingwall

Published
Dec 22, 2016

Walmart has pulled a “Black Lives Matter” shirt off its marketplace website after a request from the National Fraternal Order of Police. While the shirt was not actually stocked by Walmart, it was listed by a third-party user. The shirt in question said “Bulletproof. Black Lives Matter.”

A Walmart spokesperson told the press, "Like other online retailers, we have a marketplace with millions of items offered by third parties that includes Blue Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter, and All Lives Matter merchandise. After hearing concerns from customers, we are removing the specific item with the 'bulletproof' reference."

The offending shirt was listed by seller Glenn Morelli, who owns the ‘Old Glory’ store. The owner, who willingly removed the shirt as soon as possible, apologized publically, stating how he didn’t mean to offend people. The Old Glory stocks nearly 50,000 different shirts via Walmart’s marketplace and its own e-commerce site. Of note, the store also carries “All Lives Matter” and “Blue Lives Matters” shirts.

More controversy arose last week when it was noticed by a right-wing group that Walmart refused to sell products with a confederate flag, but still carried Black Lives Matter shirts.