Walmart Pulls KKK Boots From Online Marketplace

Walmart says it's looking into how hiking boots with the letters KKK on the tongue made it into its online marketplace. The $50 boots appeared in an online listing under the name "Harsuny Men’s Tactical Military Hiking Ankle Boot Outdoor Trekking Shoes," the Huffington Post reports. While it may have been a terrible design choice and not a reference to the Ku Klux Klan, the letters KKK were prominent in red on the black boots. The Council on American-Islamic Relations civil rights group shared a photo of the listing and said it had learned about it via email and subsequently asked Walmart to drop the "poorly named" boots, which were available on Walmart's website but never appeared in stores.

"This item was listed by an outside third-party seller and removed because the item is inconsistent with our values and violates Walmart’s prohibited product policy," Walmart said in a statement, per the Hill. "We have a process in place designed to prevent third-party sellers from offering inappropriate items on our platform. Still, at times, inappropriate items make their way onto our platform." Walmart said it plans to improve its processes to "prevent the sale of inappropriate merchandise." A Walmart rep says the company has contacted the third-party seller "to understand how this occurred." (More Walmart stories.)