Amazon BLOCKS sales of Proud Boys shirts with ‘stand by’ or ‘stand back’ on them
AMAZON has reportedly BLOCKED sales of Proud Boys shirts with the words “stand by” or “stand back” on them.
Shirts with the the far-right extremist group’s logo, along with the phrases “stand back” and “stand by” have been pulled from the site, the company confirmed to CBS.
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The shirts popped up on Amazon after President Trump mentioned the group, and said to “stand back and stand by” when asked if he condemns white supremacists during the Tuesday night debate.
The next day, however, Amazon began blocking sales of the shirts, a spokesperson confirmed to CBS.
“All sellers must follow our selling guidelines and those who do not will be subject to action including potential removal of their account,” a spokesperson told CBS via email.
“The products in question have been removed,” the spokesperson added.
Amazon did not specify exactly what policy the products violated – but seller guidelines prohibit “offensive and controversial materials.”
Prohibited items include “promote, incite or glorify hatred, violence, racial, sexual or religious intolerance or promote organizations with such views,” according to Amazon’s Seller Central.
Amazon did not immediately respond to The Sun’s request for comment.
Proud Boys – established by Vice Media co-founder Gavin McInnes in 2016 – have been designated a “hate group” by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
The Proud Boys are a self-described “pro-Western fraternal organisation for men.”
The group denies being linked to the racist alt-right, and instead claim to offer “an ‘anti-political correctness’ and ‘anti-white guilt’ agenda.”
As of Thursday, Proud Boy products on Ebay had also been removed from the site, CBS reported.
A spokesperson for eBay confirmed to The Sun that the company is “reviewing and removing Proud Boy items on the site.”
“eBay has long-standing policies to manage the marketplace and prohibits offensive materials that promote or glorify hatred, violence or racial, religious or gender intolerance — we take a hard line against any listing attempting to spread hate and discrimination,” the company said in a statement.
“In line with this policy, we are removing items on our marketplace that explicitly reference Proud Boys in image or title,” the statement added.
Despite his comment at the Tuesday debate, on Wednesday, Trump denied knowing the group.
“I don’t know who Proud Boys are, but whoever they are, they have to stand down, let law enforcement do their job,” Trump told reporters outside the White House.
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“Law enforcement will do their work, they’re gonna stand down. They have to stand down,” Trump added.
Following Trump’s comment at the debate, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi claimed group members are the president’s “friends” and alleged he gave them the “green light.”
“Speaking of violence,” the House Speaker said when speaking at a press conference on Capitol Hill, “the Proud Boys, the president‘s friends, you know, the Proud Boys who are celebrating the green light that he gave them in the debate.”