Apology over offensive T-shirts

Michael Fowler, founder of US clothing company Solid Gold Bomb has apologised for the offensive slogans on T-shirts advertised for sale on Amazon.

In a statement on the company's website, he said: "I am sorry. As the party responsible within our company for scripting and creating this automated process that created the matched slogans for this "Keep Calm" series, I apologise for the offensive response this has created across the world".

He went on: "Currently, our listings have been fully removed and we are working to delete the entire parody series.

"Rest assured, we do not condone the offence nor do we have any desire to promote it."

The offensive T-shirts available for sale on Amazon which said "Keep Calm and Rape Her" are unlikely to exist away from the internet, an experienced web commentator has told ITV News.

Blogger Pete Ashton said the company Solid Gold Bomb has more than 500,000 different products for sale on Amazon, which would suggest it is using a computer programme to generate the designs for the T-shirts. Once a design has been purchased the company then makes the T-shirt, he said.

Mr Ashton, who is not connected to the company in any way, said the use of computer algorithms to develop designs online is common among web retailers, blogging:

After T-shirts emblazoned with offensive slogans appeared on Amazon, a spokesman for the online retail giant said: "I can confirm that those items are not available for sale".

Earlier, clothing firm Solid Gold Bomb has said the items with slogans such as "Keep Calm and Rape A Lot" had been printed in "error" due to an "automatically generated using a scripted computer process running against hundreds of thousands of dictionary words".

A clothing company that has been heavily criticised online for selling T-shirts with offensive slogans including "Keep Calm and Rape A Lot" has closed its Twitter and Facebook accounts

Solid Gold Bomb has apologised for the slogans which have been blamed on an "automatically generated using a scripted computer process running against hundreds of thousands of dictionary words".

Amazon has removed some of the items but one with the slogan 'Keep Calm and Hit Here' is still currently on sale.

Read: Company apologises for 'Keep Calm And Rape' T-shirts

A clothing company has removed T-shirts sold on Amazon including the slogan 'Keep Calm And Rape' after complaints, but at the time of writing is still advertising several more, including the item displayed above.

In a statement on their website, Solid Gold Bomb said: "Slogans had been "automatically generated using a scripted computer process running against hundreds of thousands of dictionary words".

"Any offensive items that are remaining are certainly in the deletion queue and will be removed as soon as the processing is complete", they added.

Also read: Company apologises for 'Keep Calm And Rape' T-shirts