In the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings, sports outfitter Nike has decided to stop selling a baseball-themed T-shirt that some might find insensitive in the current context.
The offending T-Shirt, emblazoned with the phrase "Boston Massacre," was pointed out by "Late Show with David Letterman" producer Eric Stangel this weekend, according to Uproxx.
The television executive tweeted a picture of the shirt on Sunday and noted that employees told him they were taking the shirts down.
ABC News notes that the shirts, which reference the "Boston Massacre" of 1770, were created to commemorate two series sweeps of the Boston Red Sox by the New York Yankees. As the outlet points out, the series of games, in 1978 and 2006, respectively, became known as the first and second “Boston massacres" to fans of the rival teams.
In a statement emailed to The Huffington Post, a Nike spokeswoman said the company was aware of the issue.
"The shirts being referenced are older baseball shirts that were predominantly being sold through our Factory Stores Outlets," the representative wrote. "In light of the tragedy in Boston we took immediate action last week to remove this product from distribution. We conducted this process as quickly as possible and are confident the product has been removed from distribution."
The T-shirts were made long before the Boston Marathon bombings, and their association with the tragedy was never intended by Nike, Yahoo! Sports notes.
Business Insider suggests the tees may become "instant collector's items."
Nike's move brings to mind the company's decision to pull an ad featuring Olympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius. The ad featured the tagline, "I am the bullet in the chamber." Pistorius is facing murder charges in the shooting death of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp.
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