Ebay removes controversial A&F T-shirts

Offensive Abercrombie & Fitch T-shirts that were removed from store shelves last week have been de-shelved electronically.\nThe clothing company removed the T-shirts from its 311 nationwide stores about 10 days ago. Now, Ebay, the world's largest online marketplace, has joined the ranks, removing the T-shirts that members of the Asian community found offensive. Some of the T-shirts were posted as late as Thursday at prices as high as $175.\nOfficials at the online corporation said the removal of the shirts could have stemmed from representatives from Abercrombie & Fitch requesting that Ebay remove the T-shirts. But an employee with the online trading company said reasons for the items' removal cannot be disclosed.\nDespite action on behalf of Abercrombie and Ebay, the salt in the wounds of many still runs deep, even with members outside the Asian community. College Mall manager Terry Skirvin said management from Abercrombie called mall security to the store Tuesday because of a large gathering of Asian students inside the store protesting the T-shirts.\n"To my knowledge, there were some students who went into the store to speak with management over the shirts," Skirvin said. "Mall security was called because some (protesters) were getting vocal, but it wasn't an organized protest."\nAccording to the IU Asian Student Union's Web site, "a group of students and student leaders headed by graduate student Daisy Rodriguez arrived at the Abercrombie Store at 1:30 p.m. to express their distaste for the apathy of the local Abercrombie & Fitch. Many comments were made, including one from an Asian-American who said that he himself found the T-shirts funny, although he was aware that some people might find the T-shirt offensive."\nRodriguez, a doctoral student, could not be reached for comment.\nIU sophomore Ryan Parks, a local Abercrombie stock room manager, said members of the Bloomington Police Department came to the store Thursday and recommended store management notify BPD directly in case of any further incidents.\n"In laymen's terms, they wanted us to contact them if anything arose because of the severity of what's going on. We had a store manager spit on Saturday by protesters," Parks said. "I understand the shirts are offensive. Abercrombie has encouraged all employees who bought the shirts to return them. The company is doing everything they can to get the shirts off the street."\nBut Parks said he is displeased with the way the Asian community has handled the situation, and he and other employees feel as though their staff is being harassed.\n"What angers me is the reaction we are getting," he said. "I want to ask (Asian Student Union Chairperson Christopher Chan) if he wanted to make a statement before it became a national issue."\nParks added that Abercrombie is a company that wants to promote a certain lifestyle and often that involves pushing the limits.\n"Apparently these shirts went too far," he said. "This is so offensive to us…we have Asian employees. (These protesters) are just jumping on the bandwagon to harass us. They're not getting anything done but creating a nuisance."\nAbercrombie officials from the company's headquarters in New Albany, Ohio, could not be reached after repeated attempts by the IDS.