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Django toys banned from eBay

The virtual marketplace pulled the toys after the Weinstein Company discontinued making them in the face of boycotts from African American groups.
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Austrian actor Christoph Waltz and American actor Jamie Fox attend The UK premiere of "Django Unchained" at The Empire Leicester Square, in London on January 10, 2013. UPI/Paul Treadway
Austrian actor Christoph Waltz and American actor Jamie Fox attend The UK premiere of "Django Unchained" at The Empire Leicester Square, in London on January 10, 2013. UPI/Paul Treadway 
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Published: Jan. 24, 2013 at 6:04 PM
By GABRIELLE LEVY, UPI.com

The Weinstein Company tried to cash in on its hit slave revenge film Django Unchained with a line of action figures, but discontinued the toys after receiving complaints.

Then, after enterprising sellers tried to turn around the now 'rare' items on eBay, the virtual marketplace is shutting down those sales too.

According to TMZ, eBay yanked the Django toys off the online shelves, cautioning sellers not to try to re-list them.

"Since the manufacturer of this product has discontinued the item’s sale due to its potentially offensive nature, we are not allowing it to be sold on eBay,” eBay wrote to sellers in an email explaining why the items had been removed. A rep for eBay confirmed to TMZ that the figurines had been classified as 'offensive materials.'

The Weinstein Company faced criticism from African American groups over the Django figurines, including Al Sharpton's National Action Network, which called for a boycott of the toys and said they made "a mockery of slavery."

Naturally, banning them made them a popular item for collectors, who began to snap them up for prices up to several thousand dollars.

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