The Walking Dead star Jeffrey Dean Morgan slams Primark for withdrawing T-shirts which feature his ‘racist’ phrase from the zombie show
The actor plays the evil Negan in the zombie show and has slammed Primark for removing the shirt
WALKING Dead star Jeffrey Dean Morgan has slammed Primark for bowing to public pressure and removing a 'racist' shirt based on the show.
The high street store bowed to the complaint of just one customer last week and withdrew a a t-shirt baring the words "eeny meeny miny moe" and a bloodied barbed-wire bat over allegations of racist intent.
The commotion has managed to make its way into the eyes of the cast, and Jeffrey - who plays barbed-wire bat wielding Negan - doesn't seem too pleased.
Re-tweeting an article referring to the controversy, he simply wrote: "Holy cr** people are stupid."
The T-shirt is a reference to the season 6 finale of the zombie show which saw a character Negan recite the rhyme to pick out his victims.
Shopper Ian Lucraft lodged a formal complaint about the “explicit” message after spotting it in a branch in Sheffield.
He told : “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.
“The slogan is “Eeeny meenie miny moe…..”
“It stops there, but of course we all know what the original said: “catch a n***** by his toe.”
“The graphic has a large American baseball bat, wrapped round with barbed wire, and covered with blood.
“This image relates 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.
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“Eeny meeny miny moe” is a popular children’s counting rhyme used in games of tag, which dates back to 1820.
A spokesman for Primark said: “The t-shirt in question is licensed merchandise for the U.S. 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."
They then removed the show to prevent further offence.
However, fans of the gory show - set in the aftermath of a zombie outbreak - has launched a petition to get the shirt reinstated.
Jasmine Williams, who launched the petition, said: “The complainer called it”racist” despite the fact that those buying the shirt are buying it for the sake of the show as it is an officially licensed product.
“The original Eeny Meeny Miny Moe song had the lyrics changed to ‘tiger’ over 40 years ago and only those older than this know the original.
“Also, the man complaining is white. He is taking a mild-mannered shirt and taking it way out of context.
“He is dictating what is and isn’t racist on behalf of a group of people, for which he has no right to speak on behalf of.
“If Eeny Meeny Miny Moe is so horribly racist maybe we should stop children singing it in playgrounds or I should get arrested for using it to choose which socks I’m wearing.
“I’m just shocked that a retail corporation could panic so much on the complaints of one ill minded customer speaking as if he himself is black.”
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