BENTONVILLE, Arkansas (KNWA/KFTA) — Walmart has removed the letters ‘KKK’ from its online store after learning that men’s boots have the letters ‘KKK’ on them.
A Walmart spokesperson said the “tactical military hiking boots” in question were listed by a third-party seller and were removed on Jan. 7, shortly after the Bentonville-based retailer became aware of them. A spokesperson for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a grassroots civil rights and advocacy group, contacted Walmart headquarters after receiving hints about the shoes in an email and “politely asked them to remove them.” .
A Walmart spokesperson issued the following statement when asked for comment on the situation:
This item was listed by an outside third-party seller and has been removed because the item conflicts with our values and violates Walmart’s Prohibited Items Policy. Like other large retailers, we operate an online marketplace, allowing third-party sellers to offer their products to our customers through our e-commerce platform. We have processes in place to prevent third-party sellers from offering inappropriate items on our platform.
Still, inappropriate items can invade our platform. We are looking at how this happened and will apply what we have learned to further improve our rules and processes to prevent the sale of inappropriate goods.
Walmart spokesperson, Jan. 9
Walmart has a “Prohibited Items Policy” for marketplace sellers outlining products and categories that cannot be listed there. Boots are no longer available on Walmart’s website.
CAIR said in a press release, “Thanks to Walmart for removing the online listing of the weird/poorly named ‘KKK’ boots after we brought this to their attention.
