Multiple news outlets were talking about a video today titled “F-Bombs for Feminism”, which features an array of cute little girls, all dressed up in their princess outfits, throwing out the f-bomb left and right. In this “feminist” presentation, the children tell us how exploited women are in every way, count which one of them is going to get raped, etc. It is impossible to imagine what kind of parent would allow their children to be featured in a video like this. The most disgusting part of it all is that it is disguised as a “movement”….a “cause” by the site FCKH8.com. In reality, it is an opportunity for them to capitalize on any cause they grab onto to sell a boatload of t-shirts.
The owner, Luke Montgomery, has quite a history of exploiting children and every cause that comes along to sell t-shirts. Using young children and teens in most of his videos with similar language, he promotes all the wonderful organizations that a portion of sales will go to. Among his many causes, Luke has also done videos promoting anti-gay bullying in school, pro-gay marriage, hating on Chik-fil-A and the Gulf oil spill. Of course, there are t-shirt designs for each and every cause and the F-bomb seems to be an intregal part of every campaign. Many of the older sites set up for various causes seem to have disappeared as soon as the next cause comes along. He seems quite willing to continue to use children and teens as the spewers of vile propaganda whenever it results in some new t-shirt sales.
The Better Business Bureau does not seem impressed with his business model, where he rates an “F”.
Disgusting as it is, what is just as disturbing is the celebrity kudos he claims to have gotten. They proudly share some of this on their “About” page:
T-shirts emblazoned with bold messages like “Some Chicks Marry Chicks, Get Over It,” “Straight Against Hate,” and ”Legalize Love” have been publicly talked about by celebrities including Jane Lynch, Adam Lambert, Perez Hilton, and Zac Efron – who’s raved about his own “Some Dudes Marry Dudes, Get Over It” shirt in the press. Ellen DeGeneres and wife Portia de Rossi even have their own pink “Some Chicks Marry Chicks, Get Over It” buttons.
Be Young and Shut Up expands on this:
It emerged out of the controversy following California’s Proposition 8, which was on the ballot in 2008 to repeal same sex marriage. Now some years later, with over 300,000 likes on Facebook, over 40,000 Twitter followers, and endorsements from Jane Lynch, Dan Savage, and the eighth horcrux Zefron, the organization has become fairly recognizable for its mainstream progressive stance on LGBT issues.
It does not appear that some of the recipients have any idea they are being associated with his “movement”, but many seem ready to accept the money. However, his recent attempt at exploiting the Ferguson situation didn’t go over well with one of his intended beneficiaries. In fact, a site was set up just to try to stop him in these efforts.
Be Young and Shut Up also touches on one of the more disgruntled recipients of his charity:
FCKH8 insists that $5 from each shirt sold will go to “charities working in communities to fight racism,” and expressly named Race Forward as one of the recipients. Race Forward is an excellent non-profit organization with work in research, media, and community organizing. It is also the official publisher of Colorlines. Recently, Race Forward responded:
It has been brought to our attention that outlets have been reporting our affiliation with Synergy Media and FCKH8.com. Race Forward has never received any money from Synergy Media nor do we have an agreement with the company or FCKH8.com campaign. To be clear, Race Forward would not accept any proceeds from this effort.
It is good to see that some organizations are willing to put ethics ahead of donations from an outfit like this one. What are we to think of any celebrity or organization that is willing to endorse the actions of this business disguised as social good? And there seem to be plenty of them. FCKH8.com identifies these organizations as recipients of their Ferguson t-shirt extravaganza:
Fundraising for the fight: With every T-shirt, Hoodie and tank sold, FCKH8.com will donate $5 to the cause divided between four important organizations working in communities to fight racism. These include Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis , NAACP, Brown Memorial Fund , Crossroads Anti-racism Organizing & Training. FCKH8.com is not associated with any of these organizations, but we love their work and we will be making a financial donation to their cause. Check our News section weekly to follow the progress with screenshots of our weekly online donations.
Another site also expressed concerns with Luke’s work. The Bilerico site discussed his 2011 pro-gay marriage video with concern. Again, he used the same formula, having little children cussing along with gay men, a drag queen, etc. against the “Haters” (or in his terms, H8’ers) who are against gay marriage.
The Bilerico blog says:
And FCKH8 is raising money through T-shirt sales and giving it to The Trevor Project and Courage Campaign to name just a few organizations. I spoke with the media spokesperson for Trevor Project and asked about their affiliation with FCKH8. She said that they are not affiliated with FCKH8, but are accepting their donations. What kinds of donations do you not accept? I asked. She said “They don’t accept donations that exploit children.” So my question again is “having children yell ‘F**k you’ to people who are against gay marriage on recorded video exploitative of children?”
Let’s hope that this latest video, exploiting little children who should be enjoying their young years instead of memorizing and spewing radical propaganda, might finally be the one that gives these groups and celebrity endorsers pause, if anything will.
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