Sacramento mom calls Playmobil pirate set racist
A Sacramento mother is outraged over a Playmobil pirate ship set figurine that resembles an African American slave wearing a neck shackle.
Ida Lockett of Sacramento said her 5-year-old son received the toy as a birthday present. When she was helping him assemble it, she noticed the instructions told her to put a play shackle around the figure’s neck.
CBS 13 Sacramento interviewed Locket about the set in this video.
Playmobil said in a statement to The Washington Post that the toy was intended to portray life on a 17th-century pirate ship.
“If you look at the box, you can see that the pirate figure is clearly a crew member on the pirate ship and not a captive,” the company said, according to The Post. “The figure was meant to represent a pirate who was a former slave in a historical context. It was not our intention to offend anyone in anyway.”
Someone else explain
Posted by Ida Ida on Sunday, October 4, 2015
This story was originally published October 8, 2015 at 1:49 PM with the headline "Sacramento mom calls Playmobil pirate set racist."