--- title: Ronald McDonald Lays Low Until Clown Craze Over: McDonald’s description: Ronald McDonald, the iconic clown mascot of McDonald’s, is laying low until the clown craze dies down, the fast-food chain said Tuesday. canonical: https://time.com/4526884/ronald-mcdonald-clown-craze/ author: Melissa Chan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-10-11T17:23:07.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:37:31.691Z og:title: Ronald McDonald Is Laying Low Until the Clown Craze Is Over og:description: We've really done it now og:url: https://time.com/4526884/ronald-mcdonald-clown-craze/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1bba05bc2bb94060/6988a9890b72e3929f6eb4fb/ronald-mcdonald-clowns.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 85th Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Ronald McDonald Is Laying Low Until the Clown Craze Is Over twitter:description: We've really done it now twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1bba05bc2bb94060/6988a9890b72e3929f6eb4fb/ronald-mcdonald-clowns.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Ronald McDonald Is Laying Low Until the Clown Craze Is Over  by [Melissa Chan](https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Oct 11, 2016 5:23 PM UTC  Ronald McDonald attends the 85th annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on Nov. 24, 2011 in New York City. Ronald McDonald attends the 85th annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on Nov. 24, 2011 in New York City.Taylor Hill—FilmMagic  by [Melissa Chan](https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Oct 11, 2016 5:23 PM UTC [Ronald McDonald](http://time.com/3893099/ronald-mcdonald-job/), the iconic clown mascot of McDonald’s, is laying low until the [clown craze](http://time.com/4523171/clown-sightings-creepy-world/) in the country dies down, the fast-food giant said Tuesday. McDonald’s said Americans will see less of the recognizable red-haired jester in the yellow suit as the company remains “thoughtful in respect to Ronald McDonald’s participation in community events” as a result of the “current climate around clown sightings in communities,” according to the [Associated Press](http://finance.yahoo.com/news/mcdonalds-ronald-mcdonald-keepinig-lower-profile-162339257.html). Sightings of creepy clowns have been on the rise and have spread to more than two dozen states since late August when [reports surfaced](http://time.com/4519937/clown-sightings-craze-south-carolina/) that clowns were trying to lure children into the woods in South Carolina. Police in other countries like [England and Canada](http://time.com/4523171/clown-sightings-creepy-world/) have also had to investigate multiple reports of scary clown sightings. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4526884/ronald-mcdonald-clown-craze/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4526884/ronald-mcdonald-clown-craze/"},"headline":"Ronald McDonald Is Laying Low Until the Clown Craze Is Over","datePublished":"2016-10-11T17:23:07.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:37:31.691Z","description":"McDonald’s is being \"thoughtful in respect to Ronald McDonald's participation in community events\"","url":"https://time.com/4526884/ronald-mcdonald-clown-craze/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Fast Food"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1bba05bc2bb94060/6988a9890b72e3929f6eb4fb/ronald-mcdonald-clowns.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Chan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1bba05bc2bb94060/6988a9890b72e3929f6eb4fb/ronald-mcdonald-clowns.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"85th Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade","caption":"Ronald McDonald attends the 85th annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on Nov. 24, 2011 in New York City.","creditText":"Taylor Hill—FilmMagic","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/4526884/ronald-mcdonald-clown-craze/","name":"Ronald McDonald Is Laying Low Until the Clown Craze Is Over"}}]}] ```