Anne Frank Halloween Costume Yanked After Social Media Uproar
Image by halloweencostumes.eu
By Ari Feldman October 16, 2017
An online Halloween costume retailer has pulled an Anne Frank costume after an onslaught of criticism on social media. HalloweenCostumes.com is no longer showing its “Anne Frank costume for girls” on its European and American sites.
In the product’s description, the company described Frank as a hero, writing that “we can always learn from the struggles of history.”
The European version of the site listed the costume as ‘World War II Evacuee.’
But after a slew of criticism on social media, the company is no longer offering the product.
A spokesperson for the company responded to the mockery on Twitter, saying that the costume might have found use in a school play.
— Ross Walker Smith ? (@RossWalkerSmith) October 16, 2017
The statement did little to quell the growing tide of criticism. The website the Blaze called the outfit “the worst costume of all time.”
“There are more appropriate ways to commemorate the legacy of Anne Frank than through a Halloween costume, which is offensive and trivializes her suffering and the suffering of millions during the Holocaust,” Alexandra DeVitt, a spokeswoman for the Anne Frank Center, told Fox News.
Frank is famous for her diary penned while hiding from the Nazis.
Contact Ari Feldman at feldman@forward.com or on Twitter @aefeldman.
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