Someone from the MLB Players Association reached out to the station last week and raised concerns about trademark issues. The shirt itself, of course, has no mention of the Nats or Bryce Harper’s full name, but the way the Junkies were promoting the shirt on the air made the connection pretty clear.
Harper, of course, had not endorsed the phrase, although he really should at some point.
“It was just something fun we were doing; it was just a viral thing we were trying to get out there,” program director Chris Kinard told me Tuesday morning. “I think the mission had been accomplished. We decided if it was gonna be an issue, we would just go ahead and pull it. It wasn’t worth getting into a fight over; it was just for fun anyhow, so we pulled it pretty much immediately.”
Several hundred t-shirts were sold before the end came. If you have one, wear it with pride. If you don’t, just draw the phrase on an existing t-shirt with a magic marker or something.
