I love The Walking Dead. It’s a great show, with intricate storylines and characters, and everything else you need to be the #1 Drama series on TV. The (very obvious) criticism of the show is that it’s “too gory/bloody,” or “it’s just about killing dead people.” And at first, I would understand if our thin-skinned society would take aim at aspects of the show like that being too inappropriate, but when I found this article about a TWD t-shirt, I had to see what all the fuss was about. Now often times there are t-shirts that are very blatantly inappropriate (Urban Outfitters knows about this), but this one just made me throw my hands up, and not in anger, but with a complete burst of laughter. The stretch that has to be reached to consider this “racist” is probably only obtainable by Mr. Fantastic. So here it is…
Wow, what a disgraceful article of clothing; I’ve never been more offended… said no one ever. Fans of TWD understand the context of this, and if you’re not a TWD fan, just know that some bad guy said this while deciding whose brain to bash in with his barbed wired-wrapped baseball bat. Sound gruesome? It really was. But seriously look at the shirt, as purely a shirt. People who ‘get it’ will look at you while wearing it and laugh because they relate to your interest in the show, and people who don’t get it WON’T CARE. Except, one overly sensitive customer in the U.K. was very “taken back” by this image. I put quotes around “taken back” because this person is literally talking about how TWD relates to something over 100 years old!
Apparently, there was a version of “Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe” that wasn’t very PC (like most nursery rhymes’ origins), that dates back to 1888. The year. 1888. The customer that complained about this shirt is quoted as saying “This image relates directly to the practice of assaulting black people in America…” Excuse me? No sir, zombies relate directly to The Walking Dead. This shirt relates directly to a popular television show. No harm, or even the intention of hurtful words or imagery came from this shirt, unless you live in 2017 and can’t let simple, small, minute details roll off your back.
As always though, “the customer is always right” and so this The Walking Dead shirt was pulled quickly from the shelves of the store. By the way, Negan kills both Abraham AND Glenn after the nursery rhyme.