'Disgusting': Kabul Skydiving Club T-Shirts Criticised For Mocking People Falling To Death Off US Military Plane
A t-shirt appearing to mock those, believed to be Afghans, who fell to their deaths fleeing the Taliban after clinging to the outside of a US Air Force transport plane at Kabul airport is being sold online.
A T-shirt featuring a vile graphic that mocks two Afghans who fell to their deaths while fleeing the Taliban after clinging to the outside of a US Air Force plane is being sold online.
The shirt featuring silhouettes of two people falling from a military aircraft and the text: "Kabul Skydiving Club Est 2021", has been branded "disgusting" and "repulsive".
It comes just days after a video captured two people falling down the C-17 plane in Kabul after they tied themselves to the wheels of the aircraft to fly out of the country surfaced and shook the world.
The designs are being sold by several small online retailers, but at least one shirt was being sold by the popular site Etsy.
Hey @Etsy,
¡ª Behzad Golshan (@bg01shan) August 19, 2021
Can you remove this **horrible** item (and likes of it) from your website?https://t.co/vKWm1BuPSH
I understand it's not you but the sellers who are making these. But you can take action, so please do!#Afganistan
Holly Dagres, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council think tank, took to Twitter to say: "As Afghans are fleeing and clinging to planes out of desperation, someone decided to capitalize on their pain and misery with this repulsive t-shirt."
As Afghans are fleeing and clinging to planes out of desperation, someone decided to capitalize on their pain and misery with this repulsive t-shirt.
¡ª Holly Dagres (@hdagres) August 18, 2021
It¡¯s being sold on at least half a dozen t-shirt printing websites right now. Humans can be so cruel. pic.twitter.com/du5cCbD2QA
The tasteless T-shirts have drawn the ire of social media users, who have expressed sheer shock and condemnation of the insensitive act.
So, is this where we are as a humanity? Its disgusting, wrong, shouldn't have happened in the first place. https://t.co/jGa211NJJe
¡ª deniz agraz (@denizlikestowr1) August 20, 2021
disgusting... horrible... obscene... sickening...#Afganistan #AfganistanBurning https://t.co/iUUGPrUdg9
¡ª Osman Alpsoy (@oalpsoy) August 19, 2021
@Etsy what are you doing about this? This is disgusting.
¡ª M¦Ár¦Ø¦Á ? (@MarwaBalkar) August 19, 2021
Hey @Etsy why do you allow sellers to sell inhumane products like this making fun of people dying? How do I report this seller? pic.twitter.com/FBHa1yBeIm
¡ª Who wants to know #SaveSilwan #SaveSheikhJarrah (@moreyahyaplease) August 18, 2021
What is more horrendous is the fact that one of the sites selling the shirt, the product description refers to the catastrophe that took at least two lives.
Despite this, the description claims to find what happened tragic and to hope those who died are now at peace.
Meanwhile, an ad for the morbid memorabilia has since been removed from Reddit after users overwhelmingly voted that it showcased ¡°moral/mental/physical corruption or perversion.¡±
