The National September 11 Memorial & Museum gift shop pulled a cheese plate shaped like the United States from its shelves after the product came under fire.

Cheese Plate Removed From 9/11 Museum Gift Shop

The cheese platter in question is shaped in the outline of the 48 contiguous states of the US. Three hearts appear on the cream-colored plate in the rough locations where the three hijacked planes crashed on Sept. 11, 2001 – New York City, Washington D.C., and Shanksville, Pa. After just a day of being open to the general public, the gift shop yanked the item, reported the Wall Street Journal.

“Once the public starts coming in, you learn so much,” said Memorial CEO Joe Daniels, according to the New York Post. “We in no way presume to get everything right. We will accept that criticism, absolutely.”

Daniels also assured the public that all items that are considered for sale in the store will go through an approval process by family members of 9/11 victims.

In addition to the cheese plate, the 9/11 museum carries a number of other items of questionable taste. One of the standouts is a black sweatshirt called the “Darkness Hoodie” that features an image of the Towers created with the repeated phrase, “In Darkness We Shine Brightest.”

The store also sells a slew of FDNY, NYPD and Port Authority merchandise, including FDNY vests for dogs. Earring shaped like the leaves of a pear tree that once stood in World Trade Center are available for purchase, as are rocks inscribed with slogans such as “United in Hope.”

While the museum claims that the product sales in addition to admission fees and donations will be used to “developing and sustaining” the museum, some family members of 9/11 survivors are infuriated by the gift shop’s wares.

“To me, it’s the crassest, most insensitive thing to have a commercial enterprise at the place where my son died,” Diane Horning, whose 26-year-old son died on 9/11, told the Post. “Here is essentially our tomb of the unknown. To sell baubles I find quite shocking and repugnant.”

Read more about:
avatar

Article by Chelsea Regan

Leave a comment

Subscribe to the uInterview newsletter