Marvel/Disney:



Please make a statement to the public. To the police directly, is preferred. But if you need to just say it to the general public, that's ok too. The Punisher and how he's perceived is your responsibility. He's been co-opted as a symbol by bigots. He's being used as inspiration to harm the defenseless and less fortunate.

You've spoken out against a grieving family using Spider-Man's image on their boy's temporary headstone, here's what you told little Ollie's poor parents:

"We have striven to preserve the same innocence and magic around our characters that brought Ollie such joy. For that reason, we follow a policy that began with Walt Disney himself that does not permit the use of characters on headstones, cemetery or other memorial markers or funeral urns.”



Marvel, Disney, I ask you to consider the things being done in the name of The Punisher. No one is putting him on headstones, but he is tied to incidents that put men and women underneath headstones and into urns. His symbol is being used to strike dread and fear in the populace, among the citizens who have lifted your good works to legendary, historic success.

The use of The Punisher symbol by officers of the law has the opposite effect from preserving innocence and magic. It's destroying lives and eroding the trust of communities. It's part of a system that is breaking down at the expense of the innocent, and the only joy is for those who celebrate violence and oppression.

Below is a quote from Punisher creator Gerry Conway. I'll also link my 2 videos on this topic for more reference.

"The Punisher is supposed to indict the collapse of social moral authority and the reality some people can’t depend on institutions like the police or the military to act in a just and capable way."

The vigilante anti-hero is fundamentally a critique of the justice sysytem, an eample of social failure, so when cops put Punisher skulls on their cars or members of the military wear Punisher skull patches, they’re basically siding with an enemy of the system. They are embracing an outlaw mentality. Whether you think the Punisher is justified or not, whether you admire his code of ethics, he is an outlaw. He is a criminal. Police should not be embracing a criminal as their symbol."

"The Punisher-Police Problem"- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcrxePK1sno