Primark forced to remove racist t-shirt from sale

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I don't watch the walking dead. So this reference would have gone straight over my head.

But again I'm the generation who sang catch a tiger by its toe so wouldn't have immediately gotten the racist connection either.

But once it was pointed out, I got it and agree it should definitely be removed

What were they thinking making this?

It was actually the racist version when I was growing up in the 80s and looking back, we had no idea what we were saying or what it meant. In fact, we used to say catch a Knicker by the toe.
I suppose it's easy for me to say the shirt isn't racist, as a white person but either way it's a creepy tshirt.

I think I'd like it but i only get terrestrial channels and i've got Box Sets literally coming out of my ears.

I'm not the best person to ask NotYoda. I'm a stalwart defender of telly against deluded intellectual snobs. Telly can be sublime and I despise the people who dismiss it.

But most of it is banal and even when things start off great, banality is generally the fate of most series that go on too long.

That's what's been happening to TWD for some time, but I will stick with it to the bitter end because I suffer from FOMO. I feel that the moment I switch off, if will get better.

I've culled some other shows but will probably stay with TWD.

I still wouldn't buy that fucking t shirt though

limited

I bought some harry potter socks from primark...they were alright

"I have previously heard two versions of the rhyme and know both have been in common usage during my lifetime, one says 'catch a tigger', the other 'catch a n*'. So far as I know, the 'tigger' version is a sanitised version of the racist version. I wonder what they've stopped after the first line of the rhyme and included a picture of a barbed, baseball bat......oh"

Right, that line of thinking is why it was rightly withdrawn from sale.

But I've got to say, I've learned an awful lot from this thread.

1. That Eenie Meenie was ever not "tiger" (my DC say "spider" which is stooopid because tigers don't have toes).

1. Anything about TWD except that it's about zombies and Andrew thingy is in it.

I would have seen the shirt and thought "huh?" but nothing else. If I'd seen TWD I'd have gone "lol it's that bit from TWD". I know buyers/former buyers - they're 25-35 so we aren't going to make a racial connection.

There are two possible connections between "Eenie Meenie" and that bat: one via TWD and one via the n-word. I wouldn't have made either, and I imagine many people my age or younger would be in the same position. I can easily see how a meeting went smoothly through in good faith.

But once it's pointed out, we go "oh shit, really?" and take it back. Like when someone says "can you not use as it discriminates against ?" and you say "ooh no, I had no idea - I'll stop saying it."

You can be ignorant of the history/connotations of something, but that's a defence only up to the point where someone educates you.

I've only been into Primark once and that was enough.

It was with my mum who wanted to buy a fluffy white dressing gown that she'd admired on her neighbour. But my mum couldn't just buy something. Like Goldilocks, she had to try on every single fucking one to make sure it was just right.

She tried on about 19 fucking fluffy white dressing gowns even after I'd said the first one was fine. Then she said she couldn't find the original and we had to start all over again.

What seemed like days later we paid and walked to the bus stop with her black trousers covered in lint.

She still wouldn't have bought that bloody t shirt though. And this was a woman who loved Dexter.

I wonder if anyone can explain why those who didn't/don't know the racist version of this rhyme need to be educated, but those who believe that the racist version is the original are under no obligation to learn about its history beyond the 70s?

As PP have pointed out the rhyme is centuries old and has changed with time. Maybe people who know the racist version could let it die out and not kick up a stink when they see something like this this.

@ismyusernamerubbish

I wasn't judging TWD I was giving my impression of the t-shirt.

I've heard TWD is good - I'm not for a minute suggesting it's racist.

I think enough people would be offended by the t-shirt to justify withdrawing it from sale. Withdrawing it hurts no one surely?

"So what would you think about a shirt that said "burn them all" next to a star of David?"

I'd think that it was a dodgy market stall GoT knock-off, and the person wearing it either wasn't a real fan of the show, or couldn't count.

It was the racist version when I was small (1960's) so i was aware of the unacceptable connotations of the T shirt.

The more I think about this the more I think that withdrawing the shirt from sale was doing a favor to TWD fans.
As has been pointed out on this thread by those defending the shirt, lots of fans would be unaware that the rhyme ever had N* in it. So would have bought the shirt thinking it was a bit edgy and funny, and worn it completely oblivious to the fact that many people they passed in the street would wrongly assumed they were a horrible racist, and some may have felt physically threatened.

Wouldn't you be mortified if that happened to you?

The swastika has very innocent origins as a buddhist symbol, but I personally wouldn't wear it on a T-shirt because I know the conclusions people would jump to.
I remember when I was in my early teens I used to use a racist word without realising that it was a racist word - I thought it was just a mild insult. Was very embarrassed when I realised, and wished someone had told me sooner. I don't know how many people up to that point may have formed a negative opinion of me thanks to my obliviousness.

Even without the racist connotations, I don't really understand why anyone would want to wear that TShirt. I've watched TWD from the beginning, the scene that comes from was iconic - yes - but was also brutally violent and upsetting.

Whether you watch TWD or not, a tshirt picturing a blood stained baseball bat wrapped with barbed wire is just nasty. Why would anyone want to wear that in public is beyond me.

I also think the issue would be that there are people out there, particularly post brexit, who would wear that shirt and mean it as a threat to black people.

If you are black, how do you know whether you're facing a wd fan, or a racist who is wearing the shirt in a not so subtle way of putting his views across?

You're stood there in front of someone in a t-shirt with a bloodied bat, which says "eeny meeny miny mo", and you know full well the next line, to some people, is "catch a n by the toe".

you can be ignorant of the history/connotations of something, but that's a defence only up to the point that somebody educates you
This.
I don't understand all the people who have just learnt why some people find the shirt so offensive but still feel the need to defend it rather than saying "oh I didn't know that, obviously it should be removed".
I didn't realise "throw a paddy" was offensive until reading a thread yesterday, now I know I won't use it, rather than arguing that because I didn't know it was until now I should walk round in a tshirt saying it and everyone else is racist.

Gunny, because it wasn't just racist in the seventies. It was racist in the 30s, 40s, 50s etc.... It only started to change in the 70s. The racist rhyme is as old as any non racist / or sanitised version.

While people remember the racist rhyme, and they will for a good few years yet, then it has to be considered that people will remember it. Therefore a slogan incorporating it can be racist. Not intentionally, but racist none the less.

Just because it isn't intentional doesn't mean it isn't racist.

So what would you think about a shirt that said "burn them all" next to a star of David?

But that's not a comparison to this? In TWD (I don't watch it but have picked up loads from social media!) Negan smashes someone's head in with a baseball bat and said the rhyme. The t shirt is a direct reference to that. As far as I know, the star of David doesn't appear anywhere in GOT?

If anything is racist surely it's the show itself for using the rhyme and a barbed wire covered baseball bat?

Having said that if I saw someone wearing that t shirt I would be a bit for lots of reasons!

I had no idea I grew up with Tigger by the toe - which makes sense when you are working out who is it for playing tig!

I think the worlds gone politically correct nuts. Its like we have to pussyfoot around sensitive clowns so they don't get offended. The tshirt isn't racist it Was a line From the show. Breathing will be illegal next

Are you volunteering to pilot that Gwilt?

There is no context that it's from a show on the t-shirt. I'm just going to keep saying it.

70s kid here! I was clearly an idiot because I thought it was catch a knicker by the toe. . So did all my friends- we literally never heard of the other word.
Its the one time in my life that being an idiot stood to me.

amazing

I knew it as nipper and dh as n***

Weird the differences

If someone said an actually racist thing in a tv programme, and some sassy young buyer reproduced it on a t shirt, it wouldn't be "not racist" simply by virtue of having been on telly.

And when you're walking down the high street in it, nobody can tell whether you're being all trendy and pop culture in a post truth universe ... or just a big old racist.

As far as I know, the star of David doesn't appear anywhere in GOT?

There's a seven-pointed star which looks very similar at first glance.

Racist or not horrid violent image on the t shirt anyway - the right decision to withdraw it IMO

(We used to say 'catch a baby by its toe'!)