--- title: Controversial Halloween Costume: Cecil the Lion, Catilyn Jenner description: Some people thought these were good ideas canonical: https://time.com/4081801/caitlyn-jenner-cecil-halloween-costumes/ author: ashley Ross article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-10-29T12:58:38.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:48:00.365Z og:title: A Brief History of Controversial Halloween Costumes og:description: Some people thought these were good ideas og:url: https://time.com/4081801/caitlyn-jenner-cecil-halloween-costumes/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt174f62066a4c035f/6988693e196cf400b90389d8/halloween-costumes.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4256 og:image:height: 2394 og:image:alt: Halloween Costume Store og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: A Brief History of Controversial Halloween Costumes twitter:description: Some people thought these were good ideas twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt174f62066a4c035f/6988693e196cf400b90389d8/halloween-costumes.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # A Brief History of Controversial Halloween Costumes ## Video: See the Creepy Traditions That Created Halloween [Watch (HLS stream): See the Creepy Traditions That Created Halloween](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/cag1kbVq.m3u8) (1:37)  _Published 2014-10-27. See the Creepy Traditions That Created Halloween_ by [ashley Ross](https://time.com/author/ashley-ross/) ## ashley Ross Oct 29, 2015 12:58 PM UTC  Halloween costumes and goods for sale at a thrift store in Colorado on Sept. 18, 2015. Halloween costumes and goods for sale at a thrift store in Colorado on Sept. 18, 2015.Anya Semenoff—Denver Post/Getty Images by [ashley Ross](https://time.com/author/ashley-ross/) ## ashley Ross Oct 29, 2015 12:58 PM UTC The fall’s annual backlash over controversial Halloween costumes started in August this year when several websites began selling an [outfit](http://time.com/4008714/caitlyn-jenner-halloween-costumes/) inspired by Caitlyn Jenner’s July [_Vanity Fair_ cover](http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2015/06/caitlyn-jenner-bruce-cover-annie-leibovitz)_._ The response was swift, with the Internet protesting its [transphobic presentation](https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/civilities-is-it-offensive-to-wear-the-call-me-caitlyn-halloween-costume/2015/10/23/d673a418-79c5-11e5-a958-d889faf561dc%5Fstory.html), although Jenner [told Matt Lauer](http://www.today.com/style/caitlyn-jenner-reacts-cait-halloween-costumes-its-great-t42996) she doesn’t find it “offensive at all.” And dressing up like Jenner isn’t the only thing upsetting people as Halloween approaches. _Pretty Little Liars_ actress [Ashley Benson apologized](http://time.com/4067861/ashley-benson-cecil-the-lion-costume-apology/) after posing in a Cecil the Lion costume on Instagram. Amazon [reportedly](http://www.cosmopolitan.com/lifestyle/news/a47953/amazon-removes-lady-boy-costume/) pulled a costume called “Lady Boy Drag” from its U.K. site after users cried foul. And Walmart [removed](http://time.com/4090294/walmart-prosthetic-nose-idf-costume/) two costumes from its online store after receiving complaints that the outfits were anti-Semitic. In past years, people have dressed up as everything from [Ebola patients](http://time.com/3510495/halloween-ebola-costume/) and [Malaysian Air flight attendants](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2818434/You-don-t-people-making-fun-9-11-Daughter-MH370-chief-steward-blasts-insensitive-Halloween-costumes-mocking-Malaysia-Airlines-tragedies.html) to [Trayvon Martin](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/28/trayvon-zimmerman-halloween-costume%5Fn%5F4170528.html) and [_Orange Is the New Black_ ](http://www.eonline.com/news/483505/julianne-hough-blackface-crazy-eyes-actress-breaks-silence-about-controversial-orange-is-the-new-black-costume)[characters](http://www.eonline.com/news/483505/julianne-hough-blackface-crazy-eyes-actress-breaks-silence-about-controversial-orange-is-the-new-black-costume) (using black face paint). “I’m not surprised by what’s coming up,”says Johnathon Weeks, founder of costume retailer [Costumeish](http://www.costumeish.com/). “And we do develop and design things that are obviously controversial.” In 2013, a woman in the Midwest sparked viral outrage after she dressed up like a [Boston Marathon bombing victim](http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/boston-bombing-victim-costume-sparks-outrage-threats-online-article-1.1505395). “When you’re not close, whether that’s in time or actual physical distance, there’s just less of an empathetic connection that exists there,” says [Peter McGraw](http://www.petermcgraw.org/), who co-wrote the book _The Humor Code: A Global Search for What Makes Things Funny_. Why people think the controversial costumes are good ideas is tied to a theory that things that are funny are things that are wrong, McGraw says. “There’s a passage of time that makes some violations more benign. It removes all of the threat associated with it and transforms tragedy into comedy.” Still, a line tends to be drawn. Weeks says Costumeish uses a search engine tracker to figure out what customers are looking for. One person suggested he sell a Twin Towers costume, which he refused. But he rarely turned customers down. “As they want more controversial costumes, we’ll keep building them and selling them,” he says. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4081801/caitlyn-jenner-cecil-halloween-costumes/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4081801/caitlyn-jenner-cecil-halloween-costumes/"},"headline":"A Brief History of Controversial Halloween Costumes","datePublished":"2015-10-29T12:58:38.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:48:00.365Z","description":"Some people thought these were good ideas","url":"https://time.com/4081801/caitlyn-jenner-cecil-halloween-costumes/","keywords":["Newsfeed","society"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt174f62066a4c035f/6988693e196cf400b90389d8/halloween-costumes.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"ashley Ross","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ashley-ross/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt174f62066a4c035f/6988693e196cf400b90389d8/halloween-costumes.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Halloween Costume Store","caption":"Halloween Costume Store","creditText":"Anya Semenoff—Denver Post/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4081801/caitlyn-jenner-cecil-halloween-costumes/","name":"A Brief History of Controversial Halloween Costumes"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"See the Creepy Traditions That Created Halloween","description":"See the Creepy Traditions That Created Halloween","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/cag1kbVq/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-10-27T15:00:53.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/cag1kbVq.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4081801/caitlyn-jenner-cecil-halloween-costumes/","duration":"PT1M37S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4081801/caitlyn-jenner-cecil-halloween-costumes/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```