When designing your Halloween costume, you literally have one job — and that’s to avoid offensive costumes at all costs. However, one college student somehow didn’t get the memo and created a costume that is basically the most offensive costume Halloween 2017 could have possibly produced.
As Teen Vogue reports, South Dakota State University student Cole Paulson decided to dress up as NFL player Colin Kaepernick by wearing blackface and carrying a sign reading, “Will stand for money,” referencing the football player’s now-famous protest of police brutality in which he kneeled during the national anthem.
For obvious reasons, um, not okay. Not only does blackface represent an awful history of white people dressing up and performing as black people in minstrel shows, but it mocks and trivializes the protesting of police brutality — a serious issue.
After his costume went viral for all the wrong reasons, Paulson issued a statement to Sioux Falls-based television station KSFY. “I was ignorant to the fact I was being racist and did not know the implications as to what I was doing,” he told KSFY. “I had zero racist intentions and I deeply apologize to anyone I offended.”
Sure, Jan. Let this be a reminder that costumes that make fun of or appropriate a culture or race are not acceptable, ever.