Amazon removed clothing that was being sold on its site with the phrasing “Joe and the Hoe” on them.
What We Know:
- Ever since Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden announced Kamala Harris as his running mate, like sharks in the water, trolls preyed on Harris. They created the sexist phrase “Joe and the Hoe,” which unfortunately became a meme.
- Bill Baptist, a photographer who worked as an independent contractor for the NBA, was fired from his post after posting the meme on his Facebook. He apologized saying the meme didn’t “reflect his personal views at all”.
- The phrase turned into merchandise on Amazon where a seller called “The Oxygen Bandit” sold T-shirts and hoodies with the phrase and Biden’s campaign logo on it, selling them for $24.99 to $42.99.
- A lot of Twitter users like @KaivanShroff were appalled that Amazon allowed them to be sold on their website and asked Amazon to apologize “directly” to Harris. Another user, @BethLacke tweeted, “First time on Twitter in several yrs and I’m back to let @amazon know that the Joe and the hoe tshirts you’re selling are absolutely disgusting. Bye. You’ve finally lost me for good.”
- Amazon did apologize and confirmed that they are handling the situation. “All sellers must follow our selling guidelines and those who do not will be subject to action including potential removal of their account,” Amazon told Fox News in a statement. “The products in question have been removed.”
https://twitter.com/KaivanShroff/status/1295885542891061250?s=20
- The phrase stemmed from the VP candidate’s past relationship with former San Francisco mayor Willie Brown. Critics assumed Harris was only romantically involved with Brown, breaking up his marriage with Blanche Brown, for career benefits since Brown appointed her to the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board and then to the Medical Assistance Commission. And in 2003, she was elected to be San Francisco District Attorney, where Brown and Harris parted ways.
- Conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh insulted Harris on his radio show calling her a “hoe” and a “mattress,” and called her relationship with Brown an “affair,” assuming she was the reason Brown and his former wife split. “And now we have something that’s been thrust, ‘ahem,’ into American politics, and that’s the question of using sex to get ahead,” he said on the show. “I just find this really curious.”
The merchandise with the phrase on them is no longer being sold on Amazon and no one from Biden’s campaign has said anything about the incident.
