The Walking Dead T-Shirt Controversy That Jeffrey Dean Morgan Weighed In On
"The Walking Dead" has been known for its shocking outbursts of violence and brutal character deaths for almost as long as the franchise has existed. Still, the show was at the height of its popularity when it adapted a particularly nasty scene from Robert Kirkman's comic book series.
When Season 6, Episode 16 ("Last Day on Earth") aired back in April 2016, it had the kind of pop culture impact that can only be matched by the likes of "The Rains of Castamere" from "Game of Thrones." Even more horrible was the Season 7 premiere that saw Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) smash in the skulls of both Abraham (Michael Cudlitz) and fan-favorite Glenn (Steven Yeun) with his barbed wire bat, Lucille.
Unfortunately, this led to accusations of racism against Primark, who manufactured a shirt based on Negan's "Eeny meeny miny moe" line from the show. This is because of an older version of the rhyme that uses a racial epithet rather than an animal in the second line. However, when Morgan himself heard about the controversy behind the shirt, he appeared to have very little patience for the outrage. "Holy crap, people are stupid," he tweeted.
Negan's brutal punishment of the survivors left its mark
In the Season 6 finale of "The Walking Dead," Negan decides to let fate choose who he will kill by using the children's rhyme to pick a victim for his deadly retribution. Though the character says the following line as "Catch a tiger by his toe," many saw the threatening visage of Negan with a bat on the shirt reciting the children's rhyme as a reinforcement of racism, or even as an outright threat.
Subsequently, Primark pulled the shirt from retailers and apologized for the misunderstanding. All in all, the situation appeared to be an honest mistake by the company, but it just goes to show how the scars of colonialism and racism have yet to fully heal.
Though it wasn't entirely clear who Jeffrey Dean Morgan was responding to with his tweet, his response did little to quell the growth of his character. Not only did Negan survive the events of "The Walking Dead," but he's also a main character in AMC's upcoming spin-off, "The Walking Dead: Dead City," which is set to premiere on June 18, 2023.