Reggie Ray and Tammie Howard have become internationally famous after their involvement in the now infamous Montgomery Riverboat Brawl, which involved a chair-slinging fight between some Black and White people on the riverfront.
Ray and Howard’s likenesses have been everywhere since the Aug. 5 conflict and everyone has made a profit off their images but them. Well, that has changed.
Ray and Howard have launched the Alabama Brawl Collection to capitalize on their likeness from the melee.
The “unisex items retailed at $12.99 to $59.99, the collection includes tees, sweatshirts, hoodies, caps, water bottles and mugs that read slogans like “Chairman for Justice,” “Fade in the Water,” and “Lift Every Chair and Swing,” Complex writes.
Ray was seen on camera hitting white people with a folding chair during the Montgomery brawl. He was later charged with disorderly conduct. He has teamed with Howard and attorney Jehan “J” Carter to start a line of merchandise inspired by the melee.
The collection encourages customers to “celebrate the bravery of the Alabama Brawl.”
The brawl started on the Montgomery Riverfront when a group of white people refused a Black dock worker’s request to move their pontoon boat from a space reserved for the city’s riverboat, which was carrying 227 passengers.
Viral videos show a confrontation between Kittrell’s deckhand, Damien Pickett, and pontoon boaters. Pickett attempts to reason with the intoxicated group, and video shows him attempting to push the pontoon boat a few feet to make room for the riverboat. Bystander video shows a white man rushing Pickett and punching him in the face. Several others joined in on the assault and reportedly hurled racial slurs at the Pickett.
Several Black bystanders quickly rushed in to help Pickett, including a “heroic” young man named Aaren, who swam across a river.
The brawl ended with five individuals being charged.
“As our police department investigates these intolerable actions, we should not become desensitized to violence of any kind in our community,” Montgomery Mayor Steven L. Reed posted on X after brawl, per Complex. “Those who choose violence will be held accountable by our criminal justice system.”
Meanwhile, Howard and Ray intend to sue anyone using their likeness or trademarks without permission.