Designer defends Cecil the Lion hunter Halloween costume ‘Maybe our money has Cecil’s blood on it’
A Halloween costume website has been the target of criticism for developing a controversial ‘Lion Killer Dentist Halloween Costume’ – making light of the Cecil the Lion debacle which erupted in the media and social media in July.
Enabling trick and treaters to dress as bloodstained dentist Walter James Palmer, the Costumeish.com set features a “severed lion’s head mask, bloody smock, and bloody gloves for a gruesome, complete look”.
Mounting a defence of the costume to Time, Johnathon Weeks founder and vice president of Costumeish said that the site measures the most searched queries entered into it – with demand sparking the supply.
He said: “Cecil was coming up, and just like with many of the other ones, like the Ebola or the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge costumes, we see the trend from users. Halloween is a really tricky day and you see some of the costumes come about and it’s almost like desensitising things.”
Adding that 15 per cent of the proceeds from the sale of the costume will go to the African Wildlife Foundation, he concluded: “Maybe our money has Cecil’s lion’s blood on it… I’m not here to offend anybody… there’s more to come.”
Costumeish , and indeed a whole host of other vendors, will be fighting to create the most outlandish costumes with firms also selling a Subway Jared costume complete with sandwich, in addition to the Donald Trump and Bill Cosby entries which will likely be prominent this Halloween season.
Earlier this week, Wholesale Costumes received similar criticism for releasing a unisex ‘Call me Caitlyn’ outfit which a protesting petition claimed would give “cisgender people” the chance to “make fun of her and our community”.