Photo © Katharine Gilbert
By Sabina Clarke
Several weeks ago, Denny Gaw, Pennsylvania president of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, AOH, was alerted to the fact that Spencer Gifts was selling tee shirts that depicted the Irish in a negative and shocking manner, “I got an email from our members in Pittsburgh that Spencer Gifts had these tee shirts displayed in their Pittsburgh stores. So I went to the Willow Grove Mall and walked in. As soon as I walked in, it hit me. There were different tee shirts with profane sayings just like this one shown here. So, I gave the store manager my card and told her who I was and said, ‘I don’t appreciate these shirts being displayed and sold in your store.’ She answered, ‘Well, that’s tough.’ So I said ‘thank you for your time’ and walked out. Then I contacted Spencer’s legal counsel, Kevin Molloy. When he called back, I told him that I didn’t appreciate the tee shirts that Spencer Gifts had in their store. He said that he thought it was funny. Then he proceeded to tell me that he is also Irish and Catholic and he sees nothing wrong with any of these tee shirts. It got to the point where I couldn’t talk to this gentleman any more. I started to get a little too upset and may have said a couple of things that I shouldn’t have said. So, that is when I decided to end the conversation with him. I think that it is totally disgusting for anybody to come out and put down any nationality the way Spencer Gifts have done to the Irish— it is just uncalled for. There is no reason for this kind of degradation—whatsoever.”
Also present was Ed Halligan, district director of the Pennsylvania AOH and AOH Montgomery County President. Halligan expressed his dissatisfaction and shock as well adding, “We were raised to be good Christians, good people; and we are using this kind of language! They say they gear these shirts to the 18 to 25 year old. Do we really want our children to wear these types of shirts? We are all Americans but we also have our heritage that is being attacked. This is against what the AOH is trying to promote, which s a positive image of the Irish. We want to stop the stereotyping of the Irish. Let’s remember the contributions of the Irish to our country. Look at the writers, the politicians, the artists, the Civil War heroes. There is a point where we have to say, ‘This is enough.’ We also need to educate the consumer. These tee shirts are not humorous no matter what nationality they portray. This has got to stop. These shirts are in all of Spencer’s Gift shops.”
A letter from AOH national president Seamus Boyle went to Spencer’s corporate headquarters. And last weekend there was a State Board meeting of the AOH in Pittsburgh, “This past weekend”, continued Gaw, “we had a board meeting in Pittsburgh and got all the guys together. Our members saw all the tee shirts. We must have spent over a hundred dollars to show them the kind of junk that Spencer Gifts is selling. We also started an email campaign and a full campaign to stop the distribution of these items in all of their stores. But, it doesn’t look like this is going to happen. We asked Kevin Molloy, Spencer’s legal counsel, who I would say is in his mid-forties, if he would have his mother wear one of these tee shirts and he answered, ‘My mother thinks it is funny also.’ Then, I told him, ‘ If you had done anything like this against the Blacks; the Jews; the Italians; the Poles or any other ethnic group; you would have such an uproar in your stores that you wouldn’t know what to do. You would have major lawsuits.’ I told him that we are trying to do this in a manner that is agreeable to both sides and keep it from getting nasty. Then Molloy turned it around on me and said that I had something against the Blacks and the Jews. I told him, ‘I can’t believe you’re saying that.’”
Finally, I reached Seamus Boyle, AOH national presi- dent, to find out what response he got from his letters to Spencer’s corporate headquar- ters. “Basically”, he said, “everyone got the same form letter expressing that Spencer Gifts found nothing offensive in their tee shirts saying that the shirts ‘Neither mock nor insult the Irish people or its heritage but only contain a provocative suggestion. The shirts you have referenced are currently being sold by thou- sands of retail and on-line stores to millions of con- sumers. It would appear that many members of the Irish community have purchased and wear these shirts and do not consider the shirts to be demeaning or derogatory to their heritage and culture.’
Boyle’s response to this was, “If, as you claim, there is nothing wrong with these shirts, I wonder if your boss Mr. Silverstein would mind if the wording on the shirts were changed to Jewish instead of Irish or would Reverend Al Sharpton be happy with the change to African-American? I guess with your sense of humor, you probably thought the Holocaust and the Great Hunger in Ireland in the 1840s, which in both instances killed millions of people, was humorous or really did not in- sult anyone and that maybe it would be okay to put that on your shirts and make a profit.”
There are some Irish who wear these tee shirts—a fact that Spencer Gifts exploits to their advantage. Just this past St. Patrick’s Day in New York City, I saw a man in his early twenties wearing the shirt de- picted in this photo. So, obvi- ously, the tee shirts are selling everywhere since Spencer’s is a national chain with shops all over the country.
And there are some Irish who think the tee shirts are funny. If only they knew their history—they would get it. As for Spencer’s legal counsel, Kevin Molloy, his statements serve as strong en- dorsements of his client’s tee shirts. Yet, I wonder if his mother Mrs. Molloy really thinks that these tee shirts are funny.