Clothing line TK Maxx (the UK version of TJ Maxx) has withdrawn one of its t-shirts after a complaint that its slogan was disrespectful to the victims of last January’s Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris. The t-shirt’s slogan reads “Je Suis OVER IT,” an apparent mockery of the “Je Suis Charlie” campaign which took over social media immediately following the slaying of staff at French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. Shopper Tom Young spotted the t-shirt in a store in Bristol. “It’s appalling that a global brand has allowed a T-shirt like this to be produced and sold in store. Even if the message did not intend to cause upset in relation to the tragic event, I am adamant it should be taken down from stores immediately,” he said in an interview with The Mirror.
TK Maxx withdrew the t-shirt (which was originally designed by US-based Reason Clothing), even though apparently its manufacture predates the Charlie Hebdo tragedy. “It is never our intention to knowingly offend or cause upset to anyone, least of all those affected by the terrible tragedy in Paris in January 2015 this year,” commented the retailer. Considering the original Je Suis Charlie campaign was about defending free speech, in a surely unintended piece of irony, TK Maxx has pledged “to destroy all remaining stock.”
