Virgin Megastores in the U.S. have pulled anarchist-rockers Chumbawamba's top-10-selling Tubthumper album off their shelves following vocalist Alice Nutter's remarks about shoplifting from large chain stores made on the "Politically Incorrect" talk show on Tuesday.

In addition, several other large record chains such as Tower and Blockbuster, which have yet to follow Virgin's lead, have denounced the singer's remarks that fans who shoplift the platinum album (more than 1 million sold) should steal from large chains rather than small stores.

"We mostly did it as a statement because we've been very supportive of this band since the beginning," said Virgin Vice President of Marketing Christos Garkinos about the chain's decision to pull the multi-platinum album from shelves and place copies behind sales counters for safekeeping.

When prompted by comedian/host Bill Maher about the group's long-held views on shoplifting, Nutter, one of the eight-member British-anarchist band's vocalists, said on the Jan. 20 episode of ABC's roundtable current-events program that "we are saying if you want to go out and do that [shoplift], that's up to you. We don't care. We're not precious about it."

Nutter added that "quite often shops have huge profits and they cover it in the insurance. I know that the consumer pays more. But people who can afford it pay more." When prompted by Maher about what kinds of stores were acceptable to steal from, the singer clarified that the band was not advocating stealing from "corner shops," and when Maher asked if it was "OK to steal from the Virgin Megastore, but not from the corner shop?," Nutter responded, "Because the corner shop is basically struggling to survive, where Virgin Megastore isn't struggling to survive."

The chain was especially stung by Nutter's comments, Garkinos said, considering what he said was store managers' and buyers' early support for the veteran political punk/dance band. "For them to say that stuff flies in the face of what we've been doing for the last six months," he said. A spokesperson for the Virgin Megastore in London said it was unclear whether that store would be pulling the record off display based on Nutter's comments.

In response to Virgin's action, Nutter penned the following response Friday morning: "I wouldn't tell people to go out and nick our albums. Not because I have any problems with the morality of it, but because I'm not the one who would have to bail them out if they got caught ... We don't have a problem with Virgin's action. They can feel singled-out and outraged if they want. But if we're going to talk about shoplifting, let's widen the debate and talk about why people steal as opposed to just talking about Chumbawamba."

Further explaining Nutter's comments on the show, Ellen Zoe Golden, vice president of media relations for the band's U.S. label, Universal Records, said the singer was simply saying that it was a person's choice whether or not they shoplift. "[Nutter was saying] if you do it, take from big corporations, not the corner store," Golden said, adding that Maher was apparently aware that as far back as Dec. 1, Chumbawamba -- whose infectious hit single "Tubthumping" (RealAudio excerpt) spurred sales of the LP -- had listed the following on their website (www.chumba.com):

"Here is a list of shops which (sic) we recommend nicking our albums from. If you get caught just tell the store detective that you have the full support of the band:

HMV

VIRGIN

OUR PRICE

TOWER

ANDY'S RECORDS

WOOLWORTH

BOOTS

WH SMITH

I personally think that stealing from chain stores (as opposed to small private shops) involves fewer moral dilemmas ... We've no sympathy for the bigger stores."

Although his shops have not followed suit, Tower founder/President Russ Solomon said on Friday that Nutter "hasn't a clue what she's talking about," explaining that no record store makes a sizable profit on a popular album. "In the U.S.," Solomon said, "the suggested retail price of that album is $17.98. No one, in America, particularly the large chains, will sell a hit record for that much. We sell it for $13.98 or $12.98, and no matter what you sell it for, the cost at wholesale is as if it was selling for $17.98. At a cost of $11.33, the profit margin is very low. It's an old idea that the large chains are making a whole lot of money. The people making the money are the artists and record companies." Solomon also rejected as "ridiculous" the notion that any type of insurance could cover shoplifting losses.

Liz Green, a spokesperson for the 421-store Blockbuster music chain, said she had two responses to Nutter's comments. "We prosecute shoplifters," Green said, adding that she didn't know if Blockbuster would follow Virgin's lead. "Anarchists or not, I'm sure their goal is to make great music and to make money, and the more shoplifters they're encouraging, the less money they'll make."

The group, which has taken heat from fans about its perceived abandonment of more politically strident songs in favor of pop tunes on Tubthumper, have had a controversy-filled rise to the top after 15 years of fringe-dwelling and self-released albums. Just three songs into a free October concert in Washington, D.C., the band had the plug pulled by city officials who claimed that the show's sponsor, WHFS radio, had not filed for proper permits. A sympathetic soundman, however, cranked the volume up for a go-through of their breakthrough sing-a-long, "Tubthumping." Later that month, Chumbawamba started a mini-feud with electronica stars Prodigy by telling a British news outlet that Chumbawamba got an idea to record a track entitled "Smack My Keith Up," in a twisted, backwards homage to Prodigy singer Keith Flint and their perception of Prodigy as a band with nothing to say.