The popular KU Boobs Twitter account said on Monday that they had been ordered by the University of Kansas to shut down by June 12, but the university says that is not the case.
The KU Boobs Twitter account made the announcement at 8:00 pm CT on Monday.
KU Boobs has been ordered to cease and desist by The University of Kansas by June 12, 2013.
— KU Boobs (@KUboobs) June 11, 2013
Jim Marchiony, an associate athletic director at Kansas, says the school only told KU Boobs to cease and desist selling merchandise with the KU logo, not to shut down the account.
KU is not trying to shut down the @kuboobs Twitter account. A Twitter account is one thing. But they’re selling merchandise with KU on it.
— Jim Marchiony (@JMarchiony) June 11, 2013
That violates KU’s Federal trademark, which the University must protect.
— Jim Marchiony (@JMarchiony) June 11, 2013
We’ve asked them to stop selling that merchandise, not to shut down the Twitter account. Rock Chalk!
— Jim Marchiony (@JMarchiony) June 11, 2013
The KU Boobs movement began last year after a friend of the account’s founder tweeted a picture of herself with the hashtag “#KUBoobs.” That sparked the idea for a submissions-based website, Twitter account, and Facebook group, where men and women send in pictures of their boobs in Kansas colors and/or gear, like these ones:
KU Boobs was saying one thing, while the school was saying another. The question became: whom to believe?
KU Boobs sent a copy of the cease and desist letter to Rock Chalk Blog, and the letter indicates the school indeed ordered them to shut down if they did not change names.
The letter tells KU Boobs to stop using the KU name in its accounts, website URL, and merchandise (such as the I love KU Boobs wristbands they were selling). That means they could re-brand the Facebook and Twitter accounts without the KU name and make it clear in their descriptions that they are unaffiliated with the school in order to keep the accounts going.
After telling followers that the account would be shut down, the KU Boobs account operators encouraged people to send in their boob pics while they still had a chance. They even started a save the KU Boobs movement and received several submissions:
@kuboobs don’t bite the boobs that feed you #savekuboobs twitter.com/MissKUboobs/st…
— Jessica(@MissKUboobs) June 11, 2013
I know I’ve tweeted this picture before, but its for a good cause. #savekuboobs @kuboobs twitter.com/HotHoneyBadger…
— OneBrokeBitch (@HotHoneyBadgers) June 11, 2013
So @kuboobs is being shut down?That brings new meaning to “save the ta-tas”#savekuboobs #onefortheroad twitter.com/dragonbettie/s…
— KTJO (@dragonbettie) June 11, 2013
#kuboobs #savekuboobs #SorryNotSorry @kuboobs twitter.com/elenacleaves/s…
— Elena Cleaves (@elenacleaves) June 11, 2013
As you could imagine, the KU Boobs account was extremely popular while the Jayhawks were making an NCAA Tournament run in March:
Rock Chalk! “@jgimp14: @kuboobs more _#victoryboobs twitter.com/jgimp14/status…”
— KU Boobs (@KUboobs) March 23, 2013
Rock Chalk! #kuboobs #kubball #KUCMB “@cait_smash: @autumwindz @kuboobs @ashleykopecky fear not! twitter.com/cait_smash/sta…”
— KU Boobs (@KUboobs) March 24, 2013
It seems like the university tried to spin the story to avoid negative publicity they began receiving. The good news for Kansas fans is that it looks like the KU Boobs account has the possibility of living on, so long as they are open to changing names.
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