A London auto shop yanked its “clown lives matter” sign, but the move wasn’t enough to stop the fallout.

NAPA AutoPro on Wellington Road removed the message Wednesday — which had been up since Monday — and a company spokesperson called it a “bad joke” that tried to make light of the recent rash of creepy clown sightings making headlines across North America.

That wasn’t enough for one local activist, who’s calling for a public apology and demanding the employee behind the sign be disciplined.

“It’s disgusting,” said Mojdeh Cox, who contacted the company’s head office to voice her concerns. “Is this what you want your brand to reflect in the community that you operate?”

The south-end repair shop, one of four AutoPro locations in London, has a long history of humorous postings on its sign on a busy stretch of Wellington Road.

Before the message was removed, supervisor Jon Adler was asked whether he was worried about offending anyone by referencing the Black Lives Matter campaign. “People are way too sensitive,” he replied.

The #BlackLivesMatter movement in Canada and the United States is an attempt, supporters say, to shine a light on systemic racism that results in a disproportionate number of black people killed by police. Cox said defending the “clown lives matter” message as a joke adds salt to the wounds of members of the black community already hurting following a similar occurrence at Western University earlier this month, when four young men were photographed with a “Western lives matter” sign during the school’s unofficial Homecoming celebration.

The incident made national headlines, prompting university officials to probe whether the action violated the school’s code of conduct. A Western spokesperson said the investigation is still ongoing.

The London auto shop removed the sign shortly after a Free Press story on the incident appeared online Wednesday.

“This is not a stand against political correctness or anything else. This is simply a bad joke that was really poorly executed,” said Matt Smith, a manager at VIP London AutoPro, the local affiliate of the NAPA brand.

“Obviously, we wouldn’t want to offend anybody,” he added.

The sign ignited a heated debate on social media about whether the saying was offensive or funny.

James Shelley, who moderated a debate Monday on political correctness in London, said it’s not up to individuals to determine whether someone else should or shouldn’t be offended.

“Who’s defining when something becomes officially offensive?” Shelley said.

“I think what we’re really discussing is a question about culture sensitivity — one person’s right to freely express themselves versus another person’s right (not to be offended).”

Shelley said more people need to make an effort to understand why others find the incidents at Western and the auto shop appalling, threatening or insulting.

The clown hysteria arrived in London earlier this month after an online threat said clowns were coming to city high schools Oct. 7 to kidnap students and kill teachers.

Police spent the day responding to reported clown sightings — most of them false — across the city.

dcarruthers@postmedia.com

twitter.com/DaleatLFPress

Social media reaction

“Good lord no one can even speak anymore these days without some big uproar about who it offends ... Let’s be clear no one will ever be 100% free from taking offence to something. People need to start looking at intent before jumping to be so pissed off. This was meant to be humorous, take it as such!”

Kristen Trevelyan

“It’s pretty simple: do not make jokes about serious matters. A bunch of clowns running around threatening people and children for their amusement is a serious matter, at least for anyone with children and loved ones. These are real threats that people are taking seriously, as well as the sign seems to trivialize the black lives matter movement which is a legitimate protest movement. Good retraction.”

Aleem Sheikh Zia

“We always look at their sign. They come up with some really funny things to put on their sign. I hope they don’t stop putting up messages on their sign.”

Margaret-Ann Peddle

“It belittles the Black Lives Matter movement. Not cool and if I had a car, I wouldn’t go to his business if it was the only one open.”

Marisha Peds

“This is so ridiculous. Pretty soon it’s going to be offensive to laugh at anything. Only a bunch of serious robots running around.”

Sarah Anne Findlay