NATIONWIDE — Several major online retailers are reportedly pulling merchandise that references the Proud Boys, a group of self-proclaimed “western chauvinists” that the Southern Poverty Law Center has designated as a hate group.
The influx of Proud Boy related items came after President Trump seemingly failed to denounce them and other white supremacist groups during Tuesday's presidential debate. The president has since told reporters, "I don't know who the Proud Boys are."
But the damage had already been done – Trump's exchange with Democrat Joe Biden left the extremist group celebrating what some of its members saw as tacit approval. Soon after, shirts bearing the phrases “stand back” and “stand by” began to crop up on online retail sites, in an apparent reference to Trump's comments during the debate.
On Wednesday, numerous social media users pointed out that Proud Boys merchandise was available on Amazon. Among the items were tank tops and long sleeved shirts emblazoned with quotes of the president’s comments from debate night. As of Thursday, no products related to the Proud Boys remained on the site.
A spokersperon for Amazon confirmed to Spectrum News that all Proud Boys merchandise has been removed.
"All sellers must follow our selling guidelines and those who do not will be subject to action including potential removal of their account. The products in question have been removed," the spokesperon said.
Amazon’s company policy prohibits the sale of any materials that “promote, incite or glorify hatred, violence, racial, sexual or religious intolerance or promote organizations with such views,” according to a statement on its website.
But the retail behemoth was not alone in sales of items associated with the hate group. The Twitter account for Sleeping Giants, a liberal activism organization that runs campaigns on social media, called out both eBay and the t-shirt company Teespring for including similar products on their platforms.
In an exchange with eBay’s official “Ask eBay” Twitter account, the organization shared an image of a yarmulke featuring a Proud Boy logo.
“Thanks for flagging this to us. Our Trust teams are reviewing these items across our marketplaces & taking the appropriate action. These items are not permitted per our policies,” a spokesperson for the company responded in a Tweet, later adding: “These listings will be removed as part of the action taken.”
As of Thursday, a search for Proud Boys merchandise on eBay returned no results associated with the group.
Similar to Amazon, eBay’s company policy does not allow the sale of items that “promote or glorify hatred, violence, or discrimination,” according to a statement on its website.
According to a tweet from Sleeping Giants, Teespring has also removed any and all products that support the Proud Boys.
Spectrum News has reached out to representatives for eBay and Teespring for comment.