Update!

Dump Donald Trump! Online Petition Demands Macy's Fire Apprentice Boss After Obama Birther Joke in Ad

Outspoken business titan is being targeted by SignOn.org petitioners who want the retail giant to cut ties with him

By Josh Grossberg Nov 12, 2012 11:38 PMTags
Donald TrumpYoutube

Call it the people versus Donald Trump.

More than 460,000 netizens have signed an online petition demanding Macy's fire The Apprentice boss as a celebrity spokesman, citing Trump's penchant for pushing the "racially charged birther conspiracy" claiming President Barack Obama somehow faked his birth certificate and wasn't born in the United States.

As if the Donald's post-election Twitter rant calling for mass revolt in the wake of the president's victory weren't embarrassing enough, now Trump is facing his own web-based rebellion.

And this over the fact that the department store chain carries Trump's brand of clothing and fragrance, and features the real estate mogul in many of their ads touting the "magic of Macy's."

According to the New York Times, one of those holiday-themed spots even pokes fun at the businessman's birtherism as it features Trump pulling Kris Kringle's beard to see if it's really him. The commercial's Santa Claus, which is really a digital snippet of Edmund Gwenn's Santa from the classic 1947 holiday film Miracle on 34th Street, quips back, "If I can win you over, there's still hope."

The petition's supporters let it be known however that they fail to find humor in that and other Macy's-Trump initiatives to say the least.

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"Donald Trump does not reflect the 'magic of Macy's," reads the petition via SignOn.org, the progressive nonprofit online campaign arm of MoveOn.org. "We urge you to sever ties with him. Macy's says it has a strong obligation to be 'socially responsible' and that 'actions speak louder than words.' Indeed. It's time to act."

The petition goes on to list a litany of "nasty and despicable behavior" on the part of Trump that reflect badly on Macy's for being in business with him.

Aside from his controversial birther views—which have long been discredited after Obama authorized his birth state of Hawaii to release his long-form birth certificate—the petition also notes Trump has "used his public platform to deny the reality of climate change." It also smacks him for sexist behavior and "personally attacking women he disagrees" with.

Additionally, his detractors point out the reality star has "hypocritically complained about jobs being shipped overseas to China, despite the fact that almost his entire clothing line sold at Macy's is made in China."

And they're not even counting Trump's offer to donate $5 million to charity if Obama released his college and passport records.

The petition concludes by quoting from Macy's own social responsibility policy in its call to "dump Trump."

Trump was unavailable for comment. But Michael Cohen, Executive Vice President and Special Counsel to the Donald, questioned the "legitimacy and accuracy" of the website and the number of signatures it has collected.

"The Trump Organization values its long standing relationship with Macy's and looks forward to many more years of continued success," he told E! News.

A rep for SignOn.org responded however that all the signatures on the petition are unique email addresses.

"SignOn.org can absolutely verify that the petition has been signed by over 400,000 unique and active email address signatures (and growing). Our system automatically deletes any names of people who attempt to sign more than once," the nonprofit's director, Steven Biel, told us.

UPDATE: Macy's responded with the following statement to E! News:

"Macy¹s marketing and merchandise offerings are not representative of any political position. Many of the individuals associated with products sold at Macy's ­ or at any retailer, for that matter ­express personal opinions that are not related to the merchandise we sell or to the philosophies of our company. In our merchandise assortment, we strive to meet our customers' expectations for unique and interesting products across a broad array of styles, categories and brands. This allows our customers to choose what they prefer.  A longtime focus of Macy's holiday advertising has been to celebrate the season's spirit of generosity and goodwill through our ongoing 'Believe' campaign, and that is the sole message of our holiday television commercials."

—Additional reporting by Marcus Mulick