Bed Bath and Beyond pulls ‘blackface’ Halloween pumpkins from shelves

A major homeware retailer has been forced to remove one of its Halloween decorations after claims it showed “an extreme lack of sensitivity”.

Homeware retailer Bed Bath and Beyond has pulled a range of pumpkin lanterns off the shelves ahead of Halloween amid claims of racial insensitivity for appearing to be a form of blackface.

The controversy began when a small law firm in a village north of New York placed the decorations on the front of the business’ porch, which feature painted black faces with white noses, eyes and mouths.

Some residents thought the pumpkins were harmless but an African American advocate group said there was no doubt the decorations were offensive, reported by News12 Westchester.

“(It shows) an extreme lack of sensitivity,” National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People regional director Wilber Aldridgewhich told the television station.

“By now I would believe everyone (would) know that anything in black face is offensive.

“Equally as offensive is that a retail store would have such an item in (their) inventory for general purchase.

“It wasn’t about the pumpkin itself, but what was done to the pumpkin. When you proceed to put the white eyes and the white mouth, now you have crossed the line because it then goes into having blackface.”

The store says it took action after News 12 reached out but would not say if it had received any other complaints - https://t.co/Lg8rSYwcbH

— News12WC (@News12WC) October 21, 2019

The law firm, Feerick, Nugent, MacCartney Law Offices, took the decorations down less than 48 hours after they were originally placed on the porch.

“We understand that someone complained about them and so once we got word of that we immediately took them down,” said Mary Marzolla, a partner at the law firm.

She told the local television station the firm never intended to offend any groups in the community.

“We represent people of all colours and faiths, and we would never do anything to exclude anyone from any community,” she said.

An associate at the firm, Alak Shah, said he didn’t expect the backlash for the jack-o’-lanterns.

“It’s just nothing I take offence to personally, but since it did offend someone we took proactive steps to take it down,” he said.

Bed Bath and Beyond released a statement which said the black face pumpkins were “immediately removed” from sale.

“This is a sensitive area and, though unintentional, we apologise for any offence caused. We immediately removed the item from sale.”

RELATED: Trudeau mocked for new Twitter profile photo after blackface scandal

The controversy led to some making the connection between the decoration’s black face and the Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau.

The politician was re-elected this week as the leader of the North American nation despite photos surfacing recently of him painting his face to mimic other races.

This led to a number of social media posts mocking the imbalance, while others made jokes about the regular orange pumpkin resembling United States President Donald Trump.

Pumpkins pulled from stores for looking like blackface, but politicians who wear it some how not only survive but get reelected 🤡🌎https://t.co/ihe7pnIg2h

— Mike 🇨🇦🇵🇱 (@34_91_16) October 23, 2019

The @NAACP is all in a tither about @BedBathBeyond black pumpkins but no one complains about the ones that look like @realDonaldTrump 🎃 pic.twitter.com/qeGap3gwk2

— 🇺🇸Rick Hooper🎸 (@PlayingLowEnd) October 24, 2019

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Originally published as Bed Bath and Beyond pulls ‘blackface’ Halloween pumpkins from shelves