A Bloody Elbow community member has posted what appears to be a photograph of Matt Hughes holding a t-shirt that is apparently linked to a white supremacist organization.
We are currently trying to contact Matt Hughes' via his website and management team so he can be given a chance to explain his side of the story.
These are very serious allegations. Matt deserves a chance to speak for himself.
UPDATE [from Luke Thomas]: Matt Hughes' webmaster says this is not a big deal:
This photo was taken on April 5th, 2008, when Matt did an appearance at Dale’s Harley-Davidson, in Mt. Vernon, IL. I run Matt’s website and I was there taking pictures of the event. This photo was from early on in the day and some guy brought the shirt to Matt, asked him to sign it and take a picture with it. Matt was on his way to the autograph table, so he signed it and took the picture on the move and I doubt he even looked at the shirt any longer than it took to find a blank space to sign his name. The only reason I remember it so well was I noticed the "SS" symbol and thought to myself, "Uh-oh, this could be a problem." It was a busy day, so I never brought it up and it seemed like such a small issue as the months went by.
Again, Matt has absolutely no affiliation with this group, he was just asked by a fan to sign the shirt and take the photo and he did. Matt has no connections whatsoever with white supremacist groups.
For more photos from that event, you can see his blog entry about it below:
http://www.matt-hughes.com/blog/2008/04/07/dales-harley-davidson/He’s clearly wearing the same shirt in this photo as he was at that event. If you want to confirm my identity, you can email me at nathan@matt-hughes.com
Nathan Rosario
Webmaster, Matt-Hughes.com
Thanks for the explanation, Nathan, but the racist website is still using Matt's likeness. Surely he wants that removed.
UPDATE 2 [by Luke Thomas]: And that's exactly what they intend to do:
We are also aware that the photo is being used by this group on their website as an endorsement of this shirt. We are trying to contact them to remove it immediately and if they do not comply then we will pursue legal action against them.
Not only do we completely disagree with everything they stand for, but this "endorsement" was not obtained in a legal manner, because they are using Matt’s image without permission.
Nathan Rosario
Webmaster, Matt-Hughes.com
I'm not going to toot the horn of anyone or anything anyone here did necessarily, but I think it's overall better this was brought to attention. Hughes is now able to get his image removed from the site and set the record straight. That's always a plus.
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