Halloween Costume At College Football Game Sparks Controversy
Halloween costumes are meant to be spooky and fun, but one fan at the University of Wisconsin football game took their costume too far. In fact, the costume prompted the University of Wisconsin to issue a statement in response to it.
On Saturday night during the Nebraska vs Wisconsin game a fan was seen at Camp Randall Stadium dressed in black and white prison stripes, wearing a noose around his neck. He had on a double-sided mask with Hillary Clinton on one side and Barack Obama on the other. There was a second person to the costume though. The noose was being held by someone dressed up as Donald Trump.
At the @UWBadgers game and there is a man with a mask of President Obama and a noose. This is racism, why was this allowed into the stadium? pic.twitter.com/zKEqhdDYny
— 😏 (@woahohkatie) October 29, 2016
The school was quick to respond once word of the costume started spreading.
@woahohkatie @UWBadgers Thanks for letting us know— Can you tell us what section you took this photo in?
— UW-Madison (@UWMadison) October 30, 2016
Naturally the costume sparked a big debate on twitter about the appropriateness of it. Some fans found the costume to be threatening towards the president, and the Democratic nominee, while others thought the costume was an act of free speech. Some fans went as far as calling on the Secret Service to investigate the motive of the costume wearer.
Wisconsin’s swift reaction to the costume eased any tension. According to Wisconsin Athletics, the man was asked to remove offensive parts of the costume, in which the man complied and was allowed to stay in the stadium for the rest of the game.
The game ended with a No. 11 Wisconsin victory, defeating the No. 7 ranked Nebraska team 23-17 in overtime.
