Primark pulls "shocking" and "racist" Walking Dead t-shirt from stores after Sheffield man's angry complaint

Primark has removed a t-shirt promoting hit US TV show The Walking Dead from its stores after it was branded "fantastically offensive" and "racist" by an angry Sheffield shopper.

Outraged Ian Lucraft was so offended by the "explicit" t-shirt that he complained directly to the discount clothing store's chief executive - and Primark has now apologised and removed the men's t-shirt from its branches.

Mr Lucraft and his wife Gwen had visited the firm's recently opened branch in The Moor in Sheffield city centre to buy a present for their grandson when they spotted the white t-shirt with the message "eeny meeny miny moe" and a picture of a bloodied baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire. The phrase and bat are both used by a character in the hit show.

He said: "We were shocked when we came face to face with a new t-shirt with a racially explicit graphic and text.

"It was fantastically offensive and I can only assume that no-one in the process of ordering it knew what they were doing or were aware of its subliminal messages.

He said: "The slogan is “Eeeny meenie miny moe—..” It stops there, but of course we all know what the original said: “catch a n***** by his toe."

"The graphic has a large American baseball bat, wrapped round with barbed wire, and covered with blood. This image relates directly to the practice of assaulting black people in America.

"It is directly threatening of a racist assault, and if I were black and were faced by a wearer I would know just where I stood."

The slogan comes from the final episode of the sixth series of the critically acclaimed horror drama in which zombies have overrrun a post-apocalyptic world.