American Soccer Team Kicks Up Fury After Selling Bizarre Anti-China T-Shirts
Image via Shutterstock
Professional indoor soccer team Baltimore Blast isn’t scoring points online after social media users uncovered an appalling t-shirt design from its online store that appears to brew anti-China sentiments.
The front of the US$20 t-shirt shows the American flag alongside the words “Blast” and “Strong,” while the back portrays an unassociated message of the map of China being canceled out.
The team has since been labeled as “racist” for selling the shirt.
WTF is this racist trash, @BaltimoreBlast? https://t.co/BqR2DPGhfo
— Brandon Weigel (@brandon_weigel) July 28, 2020
— Amiel Nuchovich (@anuchovich) July 28, 2020
“I am in disbelief that this was OK’d,” responded Brandon Weigel, managing editor of lifestyle website Baltimore Fishbowl, on Twitter. Another user commented, “You’d think someone would say something at some point before it gets this far.”
Others noted that the Baltimore Blast seemed to practice double standards by expressing its support for the Black Lives Matter movement.
This doesn’t sync up pic.twitter.com/mNGFSw98Uc
— Food Nomad (@FoodNomad) July 28, 2020
Gianni Tumminello, general manager and vice president of soccer operations at the Baltimore Blast, told Baltimore Brew that the shirt was created back in March by the team’s owner, Edwin F. Hale Sr “as a tongue-in-cheek thing.” He added that it was introduced to the store in spring, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
“It was forgotten about—out of sight, out of mind…” Tumminello stressed. “ It was done as a joke.”
According to a response cited by Nextshark from Clarissa Chen, member of Asian Pacific Islander creative group The Chinatown Collective, the artwork “lacks nuance and does not open discourse,” no matter if the Chinese government has its faults. She likened the message to US president Donald Trump’s insensitive nicknames for the coronavirus like “China Virus” or “Kung Flu.”
When questioned by the Baltimore Sun, Hale, the team’s owner, defended that “most people thought it was funny” and that he had “a great affinity for the people of China.”
He also dismissed criticism that Chinese people were being attacked, justifying that he was instead delivering a commentary on the Chinese government. He also said that those who reacted negatively to the design should “get out of the basement where they’re living.”
“I don’t care what they think because they’re wrong,” he elaborated. “They want to talk about me for being insensitive—what, are you kidding me? It’s not about the people. It’s about the Chinese Communists.”
Tumminello appeared more detached over the controversy. “It’s a free country,” he described when told internet users were finding the t-shirt offensive. “They can say anything they want.”
However, it appears that the listing has been removed from the site following the social penalty.
[via Nextshark, cover image via Shutterstock]
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