BENTONVILLE, Ark., June 22 (UPI) -- Just hours after South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley called for the Confederate flag to be removed from the state house grounds, Walmart announced it will stop selling products featuring the emblem Monday.
The Arkansas-based retailer issued a statement Monday evening announcing the move.
"We never want to offend anyone with the products that we offer," the company said in a statement emailed to UPI. "We have taken steps to remove all items promoting the Confederate flag from our assortment -- whether in our stores or on our website. We have a process in place to help lead us to the right decisions when it comes to the merchandise we sell. Still, at times, items make their way into our assortment improperly -- this is one of those instances."
The announcement came after Haley urged the South Carolina state assembly to debate the removal of the flag from the state capitol grounds. Protesters gathered this weekend to call for its removal after the racially motivated shooting deaths of nine people at a church in Charleston.
"For good and for bad, whether it is on the Statehouse grounds or in a museum, the flag will always be a part of the soil of South Carolina," Haley said during her news conference Monday. "But this is a moment in which we can say that that flag, while an integral part of our past, does not represent the future of our great state."
