--- title: The World Clown Association Is Worried About the Movie It description: The big-screen adaptation of the Stephen King thriller, which comes out Sept. 8, does not reflect particularly well on their profession. canonical: https://time.com/4921938/world-clowns-sad-it/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-08-30T16:59:39.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:46:56.272Z og:title: The World Clown Association Is Worried About 'It' og:description: The Stephen King movie adaptation doesn't reflect well on their profession og:url: https://time.com/4921938/world-clowns-sad-it/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt06c4522e2eb39caa/6988a9e90b72e30ee06eb58e/ap_790516347954.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Clown craze og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The World Clown Association Is Worried About 'It' twitter:description: The Stephen King movie adaptation doesn't reflect well on their profession twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt06c4522e2eb39caa/6988a9e90b72e30ee06eb58e/ap_790516347954.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The World Clown Association Is Bracing for the Release of _It_  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Aug 30, 2017 4:59 PM UTC  A person wearing a clown costume in a street in Liverpool on Oct. 10, 2016. A person wearing a clown costume in a street in Liverpool on Oct. 10, 2016.Peter Byrne—PA Wire/Press Association Images  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Aug 30, 2017 4:59 PM UTC Thanks to a proliferation of bad press, professional clowns are having a rough go of it lately. Their new challenge: battling the negative associations that are about to resurface with the new film adaptation of Stephen King’s [horror novel _It_](http://time.com/4816499/stephen-king-trump-block-rowling/), out in theaters Sept. 8. “Last year we were really blindsided,” World Clown Association president Pam Moody told the [_Hollywood Reporter_](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/movie-causing-legit-clowns-lose-work-1033435) of 2016’s spate of [evil clown sightings](http://time.com/4520149/clown-attack-sighting-craze-history/). She said that the association has created a press kit to help clowns prepare for the movie. “Even the character in the movie ‘IT’ should be understood to be a fantasy character — not a true clown,” reads a line in the press kit. According to Moody, clowns lost work at schools and libraries thanks to the [scary sightings](http://time.com/4513100/psychology-of-creepy-clowns/). And with _It_‘s terrifying [Pennywise](http://time.com/4740804/pennywise-meme-2017/) about to come back in full form to the silver screen, they’re gearing up again to face an unwanted backlash against their chosen character roles. For his part, Stephen King is sorry — but not about his story. In a tweet shared back in April, King explained his view: “Kids have always been scared of clowns,” he wrote. “Don’t kill the messengers for the message.” > [](https://twitter.com/stephenking/status/851530958822154242) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4921938/world-clowns-sad-it/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4921938/world-clowns-sad-it/"},"headline":"The World Clown Association Is Bracing for the Release of It","datePublished":"2017-08-30T16:59:39.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:46:56.272Z","description":"The big-screen adaptation of the Stephen King thriller, which comes out Sept. 8, does not reflect particularly well on their profession.","url":"https://time.com/4921938/world-clowns-sad-it/","keywords":["Newsfeed","movies","clowns"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt06c4522e2eb39caa/6988a9e90b72e30ee06eb58e/ap_790516347954.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt06c4522e2eb39caa/6988a9e90b72e30ee06eb58e/ap_790516347954.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Clown craze","caption":"Clown craze","creditText":"Peter Byrne—PA Wire/Press Association 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/4921938/world-clowns-sad-it/","name":"The World Clown Association Is Bracing for the Release of It"}}]}] ```