Linkin Park Fans Help Get Chester Bennington Funeral Memorabilia Removed From eBay

Fans worked with eBay officials to get a distatseful listing of Bennington's funeral memorabilia removed from the popular auction site.

August 6, 2017
Chester Bennington of Linkin Park at 2017 Maximus Festival
 
Image via Getty/Mauricio Santana

The death of Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington continues to have repercussions, as eBay recently shut down a proposed sale of the late singer’s funeral memorabilia.

Bennington was laid to rest in a private ceremony July 29 in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. Access was limited to friends and family members by use of lanyards, but fans and eBay representatives had to intervene after one of the lanyards and the funeral service program surfaced on the popular auction site.

The alleged seller was identified on the Linkin Park subreddit, with various users pointing out that he had production credits on several Linkin Park projects and previously sold other memorabilia from the group.

 

When called out by fans and other eBay users for allegedly attempting to profit from Bennington’s death, screen captures show a seller with the handle “milopaul08” justifying his actions by heavily criticizing Bennington.

“Leaving 6 children behind is disgusting,” the seller wrote, when responding to a fan who chastised him for auctioning the memorabilia. “Purging myself of this demon may be in poor taste in your opinion, but that is not my problem, that is yours. Sorry.”

Thanks for writing about this James. We'll continue to take items down - includes any tshirts etc. Guys if you spot things just let me know.

Other Linkin Park fans, including Kerrang magazine editor James McMahon brought the sale to eBay’s attention and the items were ultimately removed after commanding upwards of $34,000.

Selling a funeral program for a five figure sum would technically violate the “Offensive Material” clause of eBay’s user agreement, which bans listings that “graphically portray, glorify, or attempt to profit from human tragedy or suffering, or that are insensitive to victims of such events.”

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