Yesterday I was alerted to the online sale of a download of the sick chant directed at Arsene Wenger by Manchester United fans when Arsenal play them. Those who have attended Arsenal matches at Old Trafford, White Hart Lane and certain other stadiums will be familiar with it. I am not going to give it further exposure by reproducing it here, but for those in the dark, the chant is number 4 here.

Originally, play.com were also selling the download, but have withdrawn it (or at least made it invisible on their system) under protest, although initially they only shortened the name of the chant to ‘Sit Down’, lopping off the final two words, and removed a sample of the chant.

However, at the time of writing Amazon are still selling it and the chant can be played without purchasing it. They too, have at least seen fit to shorten the title.

The full story of the saga is documented on the onlinegooner forum thread about the download, including Amazon’s response to a complaint that they feel freedom of speech outweighs the sick nature of the chant.

I wonder if someone offered a version of the sick Munich air disaster chant sung by some of United’s northern rivals for download whether they would sell that? Speaking of United, well played to their customer care team for their response to being made aware of the situation, as reproduced on page 8 of the forum thread.

Here is what Amazon have to say to one protesting Arsenal fan about the Wenger chant…

Dear Customer

Thank you for writing to Amazon.co.uk with your concerns about one of the titles we list in our catalogue.

This is an issue we take very seriously and we wanted to share with you our goals with respect to our catalogue.

Our goal is to support freedom of expression and to provide customers with the broadest selection possible so they can find, discover and buy any title they might be seeking. That selection may include titles, which some people, may find distasteful or otherwise objectionable.

Amazon.co.uk believes it is censorship not to offer for sale certain titles with repugnant or distasteful content, and we would be rightly criticised if we did so. As a result, we will continue to make controversial works available in the UK and everywhere else, except where they are prohibited by law.

Furthermore, because we strongly believe that the appropriate response to distasteful or repugnant speech is not censorship, but more speech, we will continue to allow readers, authors, and publishers to express their views freely about the books and other products we offer on our website. It is important to note that we do not endorse any opinions expressed by individual authors, musical artists, or filmmakers.

We value all feedback from our customers, and I thank you again for taking the time to send us your comments about this issue.

We hope you will allow us to continue to serve you.

Warmest regards

Ram K.
Amazon.co.uk
We're Building Earth's Most Customer-Centric Company

You can complain to Amazon here