“You Are Very Fake News” is out; MAGA can stay.
The Newseum, which was widely criticized this week for carrying T-shirts online and in its gift shop bearing the “fake news” text, issued an apology Saturday. A statement on the D.C. museum’s website reads: “We made a mistake and we apologize. A free press is an essential part of our democracy and journalists are not the enemy of the people.”
Earlier, a Newseum spokesman had said the shirts, since removed from the museum’s online gift shop, were meant as “a satirical rebuke.”
The nonpartisan institution dedicated to the press was also criticized for selling hats with President Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan, along with other items bearing similar language.
In the statement, however, the organization defended those items: “Questions have also been raised regarding other merchandise. As an organization that celebrates the rights of people from all political spectrums to express themselves freely, we’ve historically made all types of political merchandise available for our guests to purchase. That has included former and current presidential slogans and imagery and merchandise from all political parties. We continue to do so in celebration of freedom of speech.”
