Clothing retailer Urban Outfitters has never let good taste affect its brand, so its latest offering is little surprise:

“Washed soft and perfectly broken in, this vintage Kent State sweatshirt is cut in a loose, slouchy fit,” read the online ad for the product, which has been removed from the store’s site following social-media backlash. “Excellent vintage condition. We only have one, so get it or regret it!”

The faded blood spatter is supposed to hearken back to the Kent State shootings of May 4, 1970, in which Ohio National Guardsmen shot and killed four university students and wounded nine others. Students at Kent State had been protesting the Cambodian Campaign in the Vietnam War, announced days earlier by President Nixon. The exact circumstances of the “Kent State Massacre” remain contentious.

According to Asawin Suebsaeng, deputy social-media editor at the Daily Beast, Urban Outfitters is denying that the sweatshirt was supposed to recall the incident. Suebsaeng posted to his Twitter account a statement from a company spokesperson:

The retailer has brooked controversy in the past. In 2010, the company put on sale a shirt that read “Eat Less.” Earlier this year, Urban Outfitters removed from its store a T-shirt with the word “depression” written repeatedly.

Via International Business Times.