‘Unspeakably appalling’: Discount store forced to apologise over ‘racist’ figurines

An Australian discount store has received a brutal slamming from Aussies across the country over controversial figurines found on its shelves.

Hot Bargain at the Lake Haven Shopping Centre on NSW’s Central Coast came under fire over the weekend for a collection of shirtless, indigenous Australian figurines holding didgeridoos and boomerangs.

Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Indigenous X Luke Pearson was the first to launch the “racist” figurines into the spotlight on Sunday.

The perfect gift for white ppl who ‘love Aboriginal culture’ but would rather not interact with us in real life. pic.twitter.com/Af9mA7fXPR

— Pearson In The Wind (@LukeLPearson) December 9, 2018

Posting a photo of them on Twitter he wrote: “The perfect gift for white ppl (sic) who ‘love Aboriginal culture’ but would rather not interact with us in real life”.

The post received a flurry of attention from other outraged Aussies who were gobsmacked such a thing could be sold in this day and age.

“Good god! That’s truly shocking. Who the hell buys them,” one person exclaimed.

“Not for me, would rather meet and be with Aboriginal culture,” another said.

While a third added: “Unspeakably appalling, unspeakably sad”.

Others branded the toys as “racist”, “vile” and “offensive”.

However, some didn’t seem to understand the outrage claiming figurines of different cultural groups are available right across the world.

“Get over yourselves, there are figurines of people of all sorts of ethnic groups available around the nation and around the world,” one person wrote on Twitter.

Since the backlash the store has removed all of the figurines from its shelves and since apologised to anyone they may have offended.

Speaking to Starts at 60, Hot Bargain Lake Haven manager Adam Yuan said they received them from a supplier and didn’t think they would upset people.

“We respect our customers and when we found out they were uncomfortable with the figurines, we decided to take them down,” he explained.

This comes just months after the Royal Adelaide Show found itself in the middle of a racism storm after three golliwog dolls won the top three prizes on a handicrafts display, sparking outrage on social media.

The show was forced to remove the dolls and issue a public apology after they were branded racist by an Indigenous community group on Facebook.

Read more: ‘Racist’ golliwog dolls removed from show – despite winning three prizes

Deadly Yarning from South Australian Aboriginal Communities group shared photos of each of the three dolls on their page, slamming the show for ever allowing them to appear, while other attendees claimed they should be “ashamed of themselves”.

“When you go to the 2018 Royal Adelaide Show Royal Adelaide Show only to see #Racist Dolls being awarded 1st 2nd and 3rd places in the Judging… WTH,” the Facebook page’s organisers wrote alongside the photos.

https://twitter.com/dominiceliseo/status/1036064612431552512

Meanwhile, another Twitter user added pictures of the dolls too, writing: “The Royal Adelaide show should be ashamed of itself for allowing racist dolls to partake in competitions and be given awards – #Gollywog #Racism.”

What are your thoughts on the indigenous figurines? Do you think it was offensive for the store to sell them?