Amazon is under fire after it was learned that shoes described as “N-word brown” were up for sale on the company’s site.
The shoes were discovered on Monday evening by David Lammy, a member of Parliament for the U.K.’s Labour Party.
“Just buying brown brogues tonight leads to this racist micro aggression,” Lammy tweeted. “Is it 2020 or 1720? Please @amazon take it down.”
Lammy tweeted a little over an hour later that Amazon had removed the product listing, but questioned whether the company had mechanisms in place to prevent future incidents.
“Thank you @amazon for taking this down now but given the item has been on sale since March what systems do you have in place for reviewing descriptions and not allowing offensive terms to be posted in the first place?” Lammy asked. “This is not the first time.”
In a statement to CNN, Amazon confirmed that the item had been removed.
“All sellers must follow our selling guidelines and those who do not will be subject to action including potential removal of their account,” the spokesperson said.
This is not the first time the online giant has faced controversy over racist content sold on its marketplace.
Amazon last month announced that it would be pulling down listings for any Washington Redskins merchandise. Days after the ban, users were still able to find dozens of products related to the football team, which announced plans to change its name this year.
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H/T CNN
