In ye olde days, the basic army of ignorant yahoos out to destroy anyone who wasn’t like them came complete with torches and pitchforks. The pitchforks have been replaced by semi-automatic rifles, but Nazis love tradition, and burning things, so they couldn’t surrender the torches. So they picked up a stack of pseudo-Polynesian kitsch flame sticks to wave in the faces of those who stood in their way. But the maker of Tiki Torches—beloved of backyard BBQs and ‘70s theme dinners—wants to make it clear they do not approve.
“TIKI Brand is not associated in any way with the events that took place in Charlottesville and are deeply saddened and disappointed,” the company wrote Saturday on its Facebook page. “We do not support their message or the use of our products in this way.”
Tiki wasn’t the only brand that didn’t want to appear to support Nazis in any way.
In just the last year, half a dozen name brands or companies have had to publicly distance their products — including New Balance tennis shoes and Fred Perry polo shirts — from white nationalist groups after official, or unofficial, endorsements from its followers.
That leaves just one brand that’s still happy enough to see its signs carried around by radical white nationalists.
Why doesn't President Donald Trump just unequivocally condemn white supremacists?
It's a jarring question to ask about an American President. But it's also one made unavoidable by Trump's delayed, blame-both-sides response to the violence that erupted on Saturday when neo-Nazis, skinheads and members of the Ku Klux Klan protested in Charlottesville, Virginia.
While the fact that the white nationalist marchers were chanting “Heil Trump” hasn’t generated a clarification from the Bedminster goat farm, others are anxious that there be no confusion.
Along with their tiki torches, some “Unite the Right” marchers in Charlottesville also carried signs that replicated the logo of the Detroit Red Wings, one of the most popular teams in the National Hockey League. The team’s logo, altered slightly to incorporate Nazi imagery, is the apparent symbol representing a group from Michigan called the Detroit Right Wings, reported CNN. …
In a sharp statement posted to social media and its website, the team said that the Detroit Red Wings “vehemently disagree with and are not associated in any way” with the Charlottesville rally, which was organized to oppose the removal of a statue depicting Confederate General Robert E. Lee.
Meanwhile, the Trump regime is still standing behind the “on many sides” statement that blames those protesters who stood up to the Nazis.