A former Las Vegas Police lieutenant slammed Amazon on Tuesday for allowing “Blue Lives Murder” merchandise on its platform, a move he told “Fox & Friends” signals the company doesn’t care about law enforcement and is only concerned with “an agenda on the left.”
Fmr. Lt. Randy Sutton, founder and CEO of The Wounded Blue, asserted that there are “real-world consequences” of Amazon’s decision to make “Blue Lives Murder” merchandise available, including contributing to the effort to defund, demoralize and dehumanize law enforcement.
“There are real-world consequences to an abhorrent action like this,” Sutton said, adding that “law enforcement officers across this country are being injured and disabled every single day.”
“My organization deals with injured and disabled officers all over the country and those injuries are often psychological and emotional,” he continued.
The Detectives’ Endowment Association also recently condemned the company’s platform allowing “disgusting” anti-police items, according to the New York Post.
“It has come to my attention that your website is selling tee-shirts (sic) and other items emblazoned with the words ‘Blue Lives Murder,'” the letter sent to Amazon’s Chief Financial Officer Brian Olsavsky reportedly stated. “It’s disheartening that your company would allow this disgusting motto on your sales platform.”
As of Tuesday, several “Blue Lives Murder” items are available on Amazon, including multiple t-shirt and mask designs.
“Amazon is perpetrating anti-police rhetoric,” one Staten Island detective told The Post. “It is totally inaccurate. They should sell shirts that say, ‘Blue Lives Save Lives.’”
The letter reportedly calls on the tech-giant to “immediately” remove the merchandise, saying its “only purpose is to invite further division, hatred and violence toward the hard-working men and women of the nation’s Police Departments, who are toiling every day to keep their communities safe.”
“To continue to hawk products emblazoned with this vile phrase puts the lives of Police Officers, and all law enforcement nationwide, at peril and risk,” the letter reportedly said.
On Monday, an Amazon spokesperson defended the company’s decision to list the merchandise, Fox reported.
“As a retailer, we provide our customers with access to a variety of viewpoints across books, videos, and products,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “We strive to provide our customers with the widest possible selection, and we do not endorse the content of any particular book, video, or product.”
“We understand that some customers may find some products objectionable, and we provide customers with a variety of ways to engage and express their views, including through product reviews,” the spokesperson continued.
Sutton said Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is either so focused on making a profit that it doesn’t matter, or “is tone-deaf to what’s happening across America and the plight of American law enforcement officers who literally are being demonized and dehumanized by the left.”
“I know Amazon is a huge company and I understand that a company does not have a soul. I get that, but companies are made of people,” Sutton said.
