An Oklahoma City clothing company, citing death threats, said it was removing T-shirts and tank tops "thanking" Seattle for the NBA's Oklahoma City Thunder from its website. But on Tuesday, it appeared the shirts were still on sale.
The Thunder were the Seattle SuperSonics until 2008. That’s when the ownership group that bought the team two years earlier reached a settlement with the City of Seattle to get out of its lease at KeyArena.
The shirts, created by Oklahoma City-based War Paint Clothing Company, show what appears to be the classic Sonics logo with the city skyline inside a basketball on the front. But instead of the green and yellow with the Space Needle, the logo is blue and the Space Needle is removed from the skyline.
On the back is the message: “Thank you Seattle –OKC”
KING 5 contacted War Paint Clothing Company @warpaintrags Monday to seek access to images of the shirts and received the response "not if your gonna use it against us or our City."
When asked what led them to come up with the T-shirt, the response was "we do not give permission& we r saying thank you for such a great organization.We truly appreciate and respect the city of sea"
The image above is an iPad screen shot of the War Paint Clothing website.
Around 3 p.m. Monday, War Paint tweeted it was removing the shirts from its website, saying the company had received death threats, followed by an apology to Seattle. But a check of the site on Tuesday morning showed the items were still online.
Here is a look at the Twitter conversation between KING and War Paint Clothing.
@warpaintrags Wondering if we can use your photo of the "Thanks Seattle" t-shirt. We are the Seattle NBC affiliate.
— KING 5 News(@KING5Seattle) May 21, 2012
@KING5Seattle not if your gonna use it against us or our City.
— warpaint clothing co (@warpaintrags) May 21, 2012
@warpaintrags What led you to come up with the t-shirt?
— KING 5 News(@KING5Seattle) May 21, 2012
@KING5Seattle we do not give permission& we r saying thank you for such a great organization.We truly appreciate and respect the city of sea
— warpaint clothing co (@warpaintrags) May 21, 2012
@KING5Seattle no comment and DO NOT USE OUR PICTURE OF THE SHIRT .
— warpaint clothing co (@warpaintrags) May 21, 2012
After receiving death threats we have decided to take the shirt down offline. Sorry if we offended you Seattle.
— warpaint clothing co (@warpaintrags) May 21, 2012
