Holocaust institute creator finds racist, anti-Semitic 'jokes' on Amazon cutting boards

When Stephen Kaufman, co-founder of the Raritan Valley Community College (RVCC) Holocaust & Genocide Institute, bought new cutting boards on Amazon.com, he was shocked to find the backside of the product's label riddled with racist, homophobic and anti-Semitic "jokes."

Kaufman, who has a Ph.D. and is an anthropology professor at RVCC, ordered the bamboo cutting boards, which came in a pack of three, on Amazon around July 13. The cutting boards cost $11.87 and were sold by Amazon vendor DeBell.

The cutting boards are innocuous at first glance, measuring 13.5 inches by 9.5 inches. Affixed to the front of the boards is a green and white label with images of carrots, lettuce, oranges, sliced lemons and other fruits and vegetables. 

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When flipped to the backside, however, the label takes a turn from the cornucopia-esque theme. 

There are a total of 12 "jokes" on the back of label, completely filling the sheet. It also says the product is made in China. 

Kaufman, who teaches a course on racism, said, "I always ask my students, and everybody, in fact, to take action when they're confronted with this, and that's what I'm doing now." 

He added that he was speaking about the cutting boards from a personal perspective with no connection to RVCC.

When he tried to complain to Amazon about the offensive material, he said, "I got this response back from them saying, 'You've got to tailor your comments to the product.'"

He said he didn't want to use the product, let alone comment on how well it worked, because of the "anti-Semitic racist character of the material attached to it."

Kaufman had no idea that what he was ordering came with a sheet filled with racist and other "jokes." 

But when he further perused the Amazon product's listing, he saw some similar concerns in the customer reviews.

"I am probably the third or possibly the fourth person to comment on the inappropriate materials connected to the packaging," he said.

While not every customer commented on the "jokes," a few of them took issue with them.

An Amazon user commented July 17 that the cutting boards seem fine and he would give them a better review "if it wasn't for the racist and sexist jokes on the back of the labels!"

A customer by the name of Rhys M. gave the cutting boards four out of five stars July 2 but said, "Great boards … but are these made by the Klu kluk klan ????????"

Amazon user Mark, however, gave the boards two stars in May and said, "The boards look OK. But what really was offensive were the stereotypical racist jokes on a sheet by the company. I don't understand why they would put this in their product?"

Cecilia Fan, a spokeswoman for Amazon, said, "We don’t comment on individual situations but you can see our policy here."

She also said, "We're investigating."

Amazon's policy on prohibited product listings include:

• Products that promote or glorify hatred, violence, racial, sexual or religious intolerance or promote organizations with such views
• Crime scene photographs
• Morgue or autopsy photographs
• Human body parts
• Products retrieved from a disaster or tragedy site
• Videos, sound or other recordings taken without the subject's permission.

She did not respond to comment when asked Wednesday if the cutting board fell under Amazon's policy on prohibited product listings.

As of Thursday, however, the cutting boards could not be found on Amazon.

DeBell has 99 percent positive feedback out of 194 customer reviews on Amazon and also sells knives and sharpening stones.

The address on the cutting boards' label leads to a home in Tucson, Arizona. The phone number listed on the product was no longer operating. The website at the end of the email address listed for the company is a Chinese website. An email sent to the company asking for comment was not returned.

Kaufman said the "jokes" could encourage the use of racist or insensitive language.

"Right now, the United States is so racked with all kinds of divisiveness and ugly comments and this is just a part of it," he said. "I think we have to stop it. You simply have to say, 'This can't continue.'"

Amazon, the world's largest online retailer, was founded by Chairman and CEO Jeff Bezos, who just surpassed Bill Gates as the world's richest man. Bezos, who also owns the Washington Post, has been a recent Twitter target of President Donald Trump.

Staff Writer Nick Muscavage: 908-243-6615; ngmuscavage@gannettnj.com