Illegal T-shirt

This is a listing of cases where the sale or wearing of specific items of clothing carrying slogans has been illegal or subject to legal challenge. T-shirts are the usual garment used for this purpose.

Britain

There have been arrests in Britain of people wearing T-shirts bearing the phrase Bollocks to Blair. This has provoked much debate on whether Britain's freedom of speech is being eroded.

• In September 2005, 20-year-old Charlotte Dennis was arrested at a Gloucestershire event for wearing this item
• In April 2006, a Conservative Party worker was threatened with arrest for wearing a "Bollocks to Blair" T-shirt.
• In a non-political case in August 2007, a man was warned he could be fined for wearing a t-shirt with the slogan "don't piss me off, I'm running out of places to hide the bodies".
• The band Cradle of Filth produced a t-shirt which included the phrase "Jesus is a cunt", which has been the cause of prosecutions from the late 1990s.

South Africa

Anti-apartheid

During South Africa's apartheid era, Robin Houston Holmes (a.k.a Nooch) was charged with the production and distribution of T-shirts bearing a sideview picture of the late banned activist Steve Biko (no words or name, just the photograph). There were various categories of illegal material. This T-shirt was deemed possession prohibited. During this period, mid and late seventies, Holmes also produced small quantities of T-shirts, reading "We are Everywhere, Even in your Kitchen" and "Mxenge, The Struggle Continues" but each was banned within a day or two of release. Holmes was later granted amnesty for all of his actions.

Netherlands

"ACAB"

• In August 2009, a 38 year old man offended some police officers by wearing a shirt with the text A.C.A.B..
• On the 7th January 2011, three Ajax football fans were fined for wearing t-shirts with the numbers 1312 printed on them. 1312 stands for ACAB.

United States

"Fuck the Draft"

In Cohen v. California 403 U.S. 15 (1971) Paul Robert Cohen, 19, was arrested for wearing a jacket with the words "Fuck the Draft" inside the Los Angeles Courthouse. He was convicted of violating section 415 of the California Penal Code, which prohibits "maliciously and willfully disturb[ing] the peace or quiet of any neighborhood or person [by] offensive conduct."

The conviction was appealed to the state Court of Appeals, which held that "offensive conduct" means "behavior which has a tendency to provoke others to acts of violence or to in turn disturb the peace," and affirmed the conviction.

The Supreme Court, by a vote of 5-4, overturned the appellate court's ruling. It said:

"Absent a more particularized and compelling reason for its actions, the State may not, consistently with the First Amendment and Fourteenth Amendment, make the simple public display of this single four-letter expletive a criminal offense."

"George W. Bush: International Terrorist"

A high school junior in Dearborn, Michigan, Bretton Barber, was asked to remove his anti-George W. Bush T-shirt in the lead up to the Iraq War. It featured a picture of Bush with the words "International Terrorist." He was asked to remove it, because it supported terrorism. The student sued his school district and his principal in Federal District Court in Detroit, Michigan (Bretton Barber v. Dearborn Public Schools [286 F. Supp. 2d 847]). In a 25-page published opinion, Barber won the lawsuit, and his high school was ordered to allow him to wear the shirt.

"Give Peace a Chance"

In the leadup to the Iraq War, a man was asked to leave a shopping mall by a security guard because of his "Give Peace a Chance" T-shirt.

"Meet the Fuckers"

In October 2005, Lorrie Heasley, of Portland, Oregon, was removed from a Southwest Airlines flight in Reno, Nevada for wearing a T-shirt displaying an image of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Michael Chertoff and Michael Brown with the caption "Meet the Fuckers," spoofing the film title Meet the Fockers.

See also

• Counterfeit: Counterfeiting of consumer goods—Apparel and accessories