The Ancient Order of Hibernians in the United States has written to Amazon seeking items it claims to be anti-Irish to be removed.
The oldest Irish Catholic organisation in the United States has identified more than 800 items of clothing alone for sale on Amazon that associate Irishness and drunkenness.
Among the many items it has identified is a T-shirt with the Irish tricolour and the slogan “Drunk lives matter”, a St Patrick’s Day leprechaun puking, a baby’s onesie with the slogan “Kiss me I’m Irish, drunk or whatever” and another T-shirt “I’m not drunk, I’m Irish”.
The order's anti-defamation chairman, Neil Cosgrove, has written to Amazon following the online giant's decision to remove items that the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) regarded as offensive. These included more than a dozen bathroom and outdoor mats that carried verses and the word "Allah" in Islamic calligraphy.
Mr Cosgrove suggested to Amazon that “no one should profit from defaming any person’s heritage or religion”, and he welcomed the company’s decision regarding CAIR.
Mr Cosgrove pointed out that many of the items sold on Amazon that were regarded as anti-Islamic were inadvertently offensive, but the Irish drunken items were “clear and overt”.
Such items, he suggested, “should be pulled from Amazon in the same spirit of dignity and respect that Amazon has accorded other heritages.
