Disgusting Contractor Supply Store Uses Ex-Wife Murder Sign To Sell Wares

Just when I think I’ve seen everything there is to see when it comes to rape culture and the patriarchy, some DudeBros decide to up the ante and impress me. And by impress I mean sicken and disturb. A Fargo contractor supply store thought it would be a brilliant idea to advertise their wares with a sign that jokes about murdering one’s ex-wife. Seriously. And considering how serious the issue of spousal abuse is in America, I am furious.

The sign read “EX WIFE SALE DUCT TAPE CHAINSAW SHOVELS.” Yes, this is verbatim:

According to the Fargo Forum, the sign was posted outside Joe Rents & Contractors Supply and was thankfully taken down late this week. Christopher Johnson, the executive director of the Rape and Abuse Crisis Center of Fargo-Moorhead, says that when he called the store Thursday afternoon to complain, he was told that the sign had already been removed:

”We’re proud to be part of a community that does not tolerate this kind of humor,” Johnson said.”

That may very well be true, but he is unfortunately also from a community where at least one business thinks this is a perfectly reasonable way to advertise contractor equipment. You know, the same type of equipment men regularly use to murder their wives, girlfriends and children with, at what some organizations call epidemic rates in America.

The Fargo Forum went on to say that they contacted the store, and spoke to someone claiming to be a manager who would only identify as “Curtis.” The man, who was later identified as Curtis Renner, told them that they took down the sign due to an influx of phone calls, but that he felt most of them were “positive” and he didn’t think the sign was offensive. Because of course he didn’t.

Johnson had some strong words for anyone who thinks this is “just a joke.”

”But it’s not just a joke. It’s a pretty strong statement,” he said.

”When people make light out of domestic violence or when people try to find humor in domestic violence,” Johnson said, ”I think it’s our way as a society to try to overlook the violence and the pain and the injustice.”

I know this isn’t strictly parenting-related, but the problem of spousal abuse (both by husbands and wives) is a major issue that impacts children everywhere. Making light of it only compounds the problem.

TRIGGER WARNING…

These are the faces of domestic abuse and murder in America:

North Dakota

In 2012, right in North Dakota, Aaron Schaffhausen murdered his three daughters, 11-year old Amara, 8-year-old Sophie and 5-year-old Cecilia in cold blood simply to spite his ex-wife. Afterward he texted her “You can come home now, I killed the kids.”

California

Laci Peterson was murdered by her husband, Scott Peterson, on or around Christmas Eve, 2002. She was pregnant. From the Wikipedia page detailing her life and death (again, TRIGGER ALERT)

“On April 13, 2003, a couple walking their dog discovered the decomposing but well-preserved body of a late-term male fetus on the San Francisco Bay shore in Richmond’s Point Isabel Regional Shoreline park, north of Berkeley. Although a judge sealed autopsy results, an anonymous Associated Press source revealed that 1-1/2 loops of nylon tape was found around the fetus’ neck and a significant cut was on the fetus’ body. One day later, the body of a recently pregnant woman, wearing cream-colored maternity pants and a maternity bra, washed to shore one mile away from where the baby’s body was found. “

This is a well-documented case of a spouse buying contractor-type equipment to plan their spouse’s murder.

California

Carol Ann Coronado allegedly stabbed her three children, Sophia, age two, Yazmine, 16 months and Xenia merely 2-months-old, to death earlier this year. She then lined their bodies up on her bed and then tried to kill herself and her mother.

Pennsylvania 

Most recently, husband and father Keith Belajonas murdered his wife,Christina Belajonas, in from of their two sons, before fatally shooting himself in the head in Staten Island. The boys were both less than six years old. Before committing suicide he posted to Facebook this chilling message – ”Had an argument. She was cheating on me. I won,”

But tell me again how hilarious it is to advertise fucking contractor equipment with a joke about spousal murder.

(Photos: Facebook unless otherwise specified)