A personalized license plate spotted in Culver City has prompted an official response from the California Department of Motor Vehicles, with the agency vowing to recall the plate due to “hate speech.”
On December 12, watchdog group StopAntisemitism posted a photo of a license plate that reads “LOLOCT7” over ”
The sign was interpreted as ‘LOL’, the acronym for laughing out loud, followed by OCT7, a reference to October 7 when Hamas launched a large-scale terror attack in Israel in 2023.
The group that posted the license plate on social media said it was spotted in Culver City at Jefferson and Sepulveda boulevards.
The same day, the DMV responded “to hate speech on personalized license plates” on X, saying, “This is unacceptable and disturbing.”
The department said it is “taking swift action to recall these shocking plates, and we will immediately strengthen our internal review process to ensure such an egregious oversight never happens again.”
A spokesperson for the department told the Los Angeles Times that the license plate owner will be notified about the language of his plate and a recall will be initiated. The vehicle owner has the right to appeal the department’s decision.
The configuration of this particular plate prompted the department to search its database for other similar plates and recall them, a department spokesperson told the Times.
“We sincerely apologize that these personalized plates were not appropriately rejected during our review process,” the DMV said in a statement.
