Following complaints from a civil rights group, Walmart removed a military hiking boot with the word “KKK” from its online site.
The tongue of the black and tan “Harsuny Men’s Tactical Military Hiking Ankle Boot Outdoor Trekking Shoes” carried a crimson “KKK” emblem.
“The item is inconsistent with our values and violates Walmart’s prohibited Product policy,” a spokeswoman for Walmart told The Washington Post on Monday.
“We have a process in place to prevent third-party sellers from offering inappropriate items on our platform,” added the spokesman. “However, unsuitable goods do occasionally make their way onto our platform. We are investigating what occurred and will use what we discover to enhance our rules and practices to avoid the sale of inappropriate items.”
It was unclear how long the $50 boots had been posted until Walmart removed them on Saturday. The name of the firm that sold the boots was not disclosed by Walmart.
Walmart removed the boots off its website, citing them as being “inconsistent with the company’s values.”
According to a press statement published by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) on Saturday, the boots were brought to Walmart’s attention.
“After we brought this to their attention earlier today, Walmart dropped an online listing for oddly/poorly named ‘KKK’ boots,” CAIR stated in a statement.
It’s not the first time the world’s largest store has been pressed to remove contentious products with racial overtones.
A third-party seller listed the boots on Walmart.com.
Walmart
Walmart agreed to stop selling “All Lives Matter” goods indefinitely in 2020, following a backlash over flying the Mississippi flag in its stores in the Magnolia state.
The flag once featured a Confederate insignia, which was removed by Mississippi politicians.
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