Paramore has scrapped sales of a poster depicting one of the band’s album covers reimagined with the names of Black victims of police actions.
“Alright, I’m reading comments and we are going to take the poster down,” singer Hayley Williams wrote last Friday in a since-deleted tweet. “Last month, people seemed to love it when it got shared. And truly, we wanted to signal boost it and create another small way to help give to orgs who are fighting against racial inequalities and injustices.”
In May, fan Robbie McElligott recreated the cover art of Paramore’s 2007 sophomore album Riot! with names like George Floyd, Trayvon Martin and Breonna Taylor. (It also included the misspelled name of Ahmaud Arbery, who wasn’t killed by police.)
Last week, Paramore announced the sale of the “Say Their Names” poster, featuring McElligott’s artwork, and promised to donate all of the band’s royalties to the NAACP and Color of Change.
Some fans took to social media to slam the poster, calling it “very callous and weird” and claiming it “doesn't sit right.”
One person tweeted: “In what world did anybody think it was okay to make a poster of the names [of] victim’s (sic) of police violence in the style of a rock album... i have no words. what the F**K is wrong with white people??”
Another opined: “the artist’s creation, it wasn’t a bad thing, the thing that was off putting was the selling and distribution of the poster... letting it be an exploitative piece to the victims.... and those who are still mourning and angry.”
A tweet from Paramore promoting sales of the poster was deleted and the item was removed from the band’s online store.