When you write for a pop culture blog for a few years it tends to anesthetize you and temper your emotions a bit. But occasionally I run across a story that penetrates my living slumber and wakes the sleeping giant of outrage in my soul!
Such was the case when I was breezing through celebritweets and ran across this shocker from Teen Mom star Gary Shirley:
What?!? Gary can no longer wear Aeropostale?!? My center is not holding!
Wait… who called? Was it MTV or Aeropostale? So many important questions! It was time to remove my unimpressive blogger hat and don the regal headgear of an investigative journalist!
So, I used every trick in the modern day investigative journalist’s handbook and… went to Facebook. On the It’s Gary Time page, Gary has posted a similar message:
As you might expect, the status update garnered millions, if not dozens, of angry comments expressing their outrage and begging for clarification. Here are some of the best:
As usual, Gary Shirley wasn’t about to let his fans down, so he clarified with a comment of his own:
WHAT?!? This is America! You can wear whatever brand shirt you want, damnit!
This only leaves Gary with two shirts left – his Belden Lineman Camp tee and his gray Affliction top! What’s next? Are the New York Yankees going to ask him to stop wearing that white ball cap? Is Abercrombie & Fitch gonna ask Kieffer Delp to stop wearing his hoodie?!? Where does it end?!?
I for one am not going to stand for it. I don’t want my children being raised in a world in which Gary Shirley can’t wear an Aeropostale t-shirt if he wants, even if it is a size or two too small!
So, I started a Facebook page demanding that Aeropostale retract their ban and embrace Gary Time! CLICK HERE or the photo of Leah to the right to like the page and help keep this country what our founding fathers intended it to be!
In the meantime, I suggest Gary use his new “It’s Gary Time” apparel empire to create his own line of Garypostale clothes!
Obviously I’m being a bit silly here. But seriously — can a clothing company demand you not wear their clothes on a reality show? Isn’t there some sort of implied legal ownership when you purchase the shirt? Any legal eagles out there willing to chime in and clarify things?
UPDATE – Apparently it wasn’t just Gary that has been denied the freedom to get his Aeropostale on, it’s the entire cast! It seems the phone call to MTV was to request that none of the cast members wear their duds.
So it begins. Maci, you should expect a phone call any day now from Thomas the Tank Engine requesting that Bentley find a new favorite line of clothes. And Chelsea, you will be getting a call from the leopards about wearing their skin.
