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Original poster

Primark forced to remove racist t-shirt from sale

296 replies

Soubriquet · 22/02/2017 17:38

link

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?

OP posts:
BigbyWolf · 22/02/2017 18:48

I'm not sure who's more ridiculous; the people offended by a racist t-shirt that actually isn't racist, or the precious snowflakes offended by violence in a TV programme they don't watch Hmm

fairweathercyclist · 22/02/2017 18:48

It wasn't tiger when I was growing up

No, it wasn't for me either - I don't think I even knew what a N was while singing it during the 70s. I'd not heard the tiger (or piggy) version - ds learnt other rhymes.

SailAwayWithMeHoney · 22/02/2017 18:48

It was "monkey by the toe" when I was growing up (90s)... I did not know until right now that that rhyme was considered racist, or that it had racially offensive connotations Blush

TalkingofMichaelAngel0 · 22/02/2017 18:48

I was born in the 70s and sang tiger.
My dc are 5 and 6 and sing baby.
I did not know there were racist connotations and i am i big TWD fan so that would be my only point of reference. Neegan's character is awful though and im hoping they kill him off soon so i wouldnt have bought the tshirt regardless.

ForalltheSaints · 22/02/2017 18:48

I immediately thought of the racist version when seeing the words. Therefore support the withdrawal from Primark stores.

category12 · 22/02/2017 18:48

It's the combination of violent imagery and the connection to a racist slur that's the problem.

I don't see what's difficult to understand about that, or why people are suggesting baa baa black sheep or Twain are even in the same ballpark . Confused

Leanin15yearsmaybe · 22/02/2017 18:48

We sang 'catch a baby' so I wouldn't have even thought to take offence at the writing. I do object to the violent connotations of a barbed wire baseball bat though so my children wouldn't be wearing it!

IHaveBrilloHair · 22/02/2017 18:49

I don't think it's remotely racist and I'd have bought that for my Dd who is a huge fan of the show, she has a t-shirt with cut off ears on it.
It's a gory programme, but not an offensive one.

SemiNormal · 22/02/2017 18:49

ok i give up i wont sing bah bah black sheep either just incase.... - Most ignorant comment on Mumsnet today. You must be proud.

ActuallyThatsSUPREMECommander · 22/02/2017 18:49

I personally don't really see the problem, but at the end of the day it's a Primark tshirt. If Primark are made aware that even one in ten thousand of their customers will look at it and see incitement to racial violence then they're entirely reasonable to think that the small amounts of profit aren't worth the hassle - it's not like they're withdrawing Huckleberry Finn from the library.

Shockers · 22/02/2017 18:53

I'm 50. When I was a child, the rhyme was n*er. I used to chant it without knowing what the word meant. I think there must have been a moment when I realised because I would never have used that word from around the age of 7 onwards. Perhaps it was when a black family moved into our area and I became friends with one of the boys.

MyWhatICallNameChange · 22/02/2017 18:55

I think it's the lack of context on the t-shirt. A rhyme that could be taken to be racist, next to a picture of a bat with barbed wire round it. If you don't watch the walking dead (and I've never seen it) but you know the rhyme and you know there is a racist version of that rhyme then you'd probably think it's an offensive t-shirt.

Trooperslane · 22/02/2017 18:55

Plunkette and others - i agree. it was the N word in the 70s and 80s where I'm from and I'm not comfortable at all with that t shirt.

gamerchick · 22/02/2017 18:57

And yes, the first thing I thought when I saw that t-shirt was the N word, and no child of mine would be wearing

Why would any child of yours want to wear it, do they watch TWD? Hmm

I have a negan tee (different) and it's brilliant at sniffing out TWD fans.

Personally I don't think there was a complaint, I recon primark are advertising that finally they're selling something other than ruddy game of thrones and Harry Potter .

Aeroflotgirl · 22/02/2017 18:57

It was piggy by its toe when I was a child in the late 70s/80s, never heard of the N word until I was an adult.

ConfessorKahlan · 22/02/2017 18:57

How utterly ridiculous this man and all the posters who think that this shirt is racist are! The shirt is aimed solely at fans of the Walking Dead. It is absolutely not racist.

As for the graphics being a threat of racist assault, it is preposterous.
Anyone jumping on the band wagon of calling this racist and offensive seriously needs to get a life.

As a long-time fan of the Walking Dead I feel offended that something that is nothing more than a cultural reference to the show has been taken completely out of context by someone who feels it is acceptable to judge people. I would have bought this shirt and only other fans of the show would have any idea what it was referring to.

I find the FCUK clothing range far more offensive and dislike seeing that emblazened on people's shirts. So I just don't buy them.

Primark have responded in a stupid manner by withdrawing all stock because one man was searching for something to be offended over.

Mrsglitterfairy · 22/02/2017 18:57

Plunkette Your primary school aged children know a racist rhyme from years ago? My primary aged children have never heard the N word (to my knowledge) and don't associate anything with racism or colour.

sobeyondthehills · 22/02/2017 18:58

I don't know what to think about this, like others I had never heard the racist version either, but the best thing I can compare it to, is the Agatha Christie Book And then there were none, it was originally called 10 little N

They changed it, but the rhyme in the song went from one thing to the next.

I also watched the walking dead but after that episode I stopped.

OhYouBadBadKitten · 22/02/2017 19:00

We used the racist version in the 70s.
Its a horrible t shirt anyway and I like the Walking Dead. Its too graphic to be wandering around the street in. So either way, I'm happy to see that taken off the shelves.

SailAwayWithMeHoney · 22/02/2017 19:01

I think it's the lack of context on the t-shirt. A rhyme that could be taken to be racist, next to a picture of a bat with barbed wire round it. If you don't watch the walking dead (and I've never seen it) but you know the rhyme and you know there is a racist version of that rhyme then you'd probably think it's an offensive t-shirt.

This ^^.

SquatBetty · 22/02/2017 19:02

MyWhat - you make a good point, doesn't look like there's a Walking Dead logo on the shirt, just on the price label. Perhaps it would have made things a bit clearer if there had been.

Pigflewpast · 22/02/2017 19:02

if the complainer watched TWD then they'd see
That's the problem, the majority of the general public won't have a clue that it's from a TV series. They'll see a racist rhyme and a violent image. In the context of the programme maybe it is fine, but that's not the context the person walking towards you in the supermarket is in.
I find it offensive as I don't watch the programme and did sing that version of the rhyme.

BluePancakes · 22/02/2017 19:03

Cel982
It was the racist version that was still doing the rounds on our street when I was a kid in the 80s.
But, having no frame of reference for the word, we all thought we were singing "catch a knicker by the toe". Which clearly made no sense, but sounded satisfyingly rude

I was born in the 80s too, and that was the version/mis-hearing I knew too. I imagined someone pulling their pants up and catching their knickers on their little toe, and then letting go...
My kids sing 'spider'.

As for the Tshirt, I don't watch TWD so wouldn't get the reference, but would make me think, with the pic, of some generic psycho-horror-film rather than anything racist, or even the original words.

Pigflewpast · 22/02/2017 19:05

Xposted with many similar posts, sorry

ReasonsToBeModeratelyHappy · 22/02/2017 19:05

The counting rhyme itself is centuries old, and existed long before any controversial racist versions
I don't think so - I think the version with the 'n word' came first, then it was sanitised in the 1970s or 1980's - there are refs to the offensive version in the 19th century.
I don't think the fact that it's 'from The Walking Dead' somehow makes it not offensive, because lots of people haven't seen that show, so aren't going to get any subtlety about exactly who its about killing.

Also, the fact that someone in a fictional show enjoyed killing a number of people for no obvious reason, in cold blood, with a bat surely doesn't make a fun t-shirt theme? Isn't it in rather poor taste, even if somehow you could remove all association with racism?