T-shirts reading “Ashli Babbitt American patriot” in reference to the deceased Jan. 6 Capitol rioter were removed from Sears and Kmart online stores this week after criticism of the garment online.
Vox reporter Aaron Rupar was one of the people to comment on the shirt in a tweet. The official Sears account responded to his post.
“Thank you for bringing this product to our attention. This item is no longer available for purchase on http://Sears.com or http://kmart.com,” said the tweet. Both Sears and Kmart are owned by Transformco.
On the now-removed web page for the item, it is described (in all capital letters) as “Ashli Babbitt American patriot. Ashli Babbitt, a four tour Air Force hero was killed defending liberty. Honor her today with our Ashli Babbitt American patriot shirt.”
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Its two lines of script are placed above and below an American flag design.
“How is this available to purchase?” asked a product reviewer on July 3. “This is anti-American, big lie, propaganda.”
Babbitt, a 35-year-old California native, did serve four tours of duty in the air force, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She died during the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S.
Capitol, where she was among a mob of violent rioters motivated by QAnon conspiracy theory to storm into the building and prevent Joe Biden from becoming president. Babbitt was shot dead with a single bullet fired by police while she tried to enter the Speaker’s Lobby, according to the Department of Justice.
The department eventually decided that the officer shot Babbitt in self-defense.
More than 500 people have been arrested for participating in the riots, including members of the Proud Boys Western chauvinist hate group.
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In the months following the riots, some conservatives have discussed Babbitt as if she were a hero. Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene of Georgia said this week she would have been “friends” with Babbitt, former Republican president Donald Trump said there was “no reason” for her to be shot and Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona said last month that she was “executed”.
Brigitte Gabriel, founder of the ACT! For America anti-Muslim hate group said on Twitter she was “extremely disappointed,” to see the shirt removed.
According to The Guardian and Market Watch, the shirt was provided by a third-party seller utilizing Sears and Kmart websites. Stores such as J. Crew and Urban Outfitters have also hosted third-party items on their site to compete with Amazon, which gets around 60 percent of its business from third-party sellers, said The Guardian.
Reports did not provide the name of the third-party seller that offered the Babbitt shirts.