Hate-based violence against clowns is on the rise, warns the ACLU.
The American Clown Liberties Union issued a statement on Monday addressing the surge in recent attacks against clowns.
“Anti-clown attacks have increased over 400% in the last three years,” said Bojangles, a spokesperson for the ACLU. “It’s getting worse out there. We’re being targeted with an intensity that we haven’t seen in a long time.”
Bojangles cited a recent incident as just one of many examples of anti-clown hate.
“My friend, Boomerang, was booked at a kid’s 8th birthday party. He gets there and he puts on his smile, he’s ready to make the kids laugh.”
In the middle of making balloon animals, one of the children attacked Boomerang with a baseball bat.
“One kid started beating on him with a bat, he was screaming at the top of his lungs that he hated clowns as he’s beating the life out of Boomerang.”
According to Bojangles, other children soon joined in, and after a prolonged beating with no attempted intervention by parents, Boomerang was left seriously injured. The clown was taken to the hospital for a fractured skull and internal bleeding. Bojangles said that his friend remains in critical condition.
Statistics by the Department of Justice support Bojangles’s claim, showing that incidents like this are becoming increasingly common. Between 2019 and 2024, there were over 20,000 reported instances of attacks against clowns.
Some analysts attribute the rise in hate-based violence against clowns to their negative portrayal in the media.
“Of course people hate clowns,” said Chris Cleighton, an analyst for the FBI. “Every time they go to the movies they’re being told that clowns are evil, they’re monsters, they want to kill your kids.”
Cleighton explained that depictions of clowns are usually less than favorable.
“You’ve got Pennywise from that Stephen King movie, It. Then you’ve got Art the Clown from Terrifier. Clowns are always depicted as deranged serial killers and monsters. I think that’s why so many people hate them.”
Not everyone is sympathetic to clowns. Officer Darryl Powell, an officer for the Brownsburg Police Department in Indiana, feels that clowns don’t do enough to distance themselves from the bad elements among their own, and their own actions contribute their plight.
“I’ll admit, they get a bad rap in the movies,” Officer Powell said. “But they’re not boy scouts either.”
Officer Powell previously responded to an incident in June of 2023, where five clowns terrorized a local park by chasing down park-goers and throwing pies at them. Powell says the incident left him with a sense of distrust for clowns.
“Are all clowns bad? Of course not. I love the circus just like anyone. But after what I saw at Arbuckle Acres, what I lived through, I’m cautious around them. I’m not taking any chances.”
Bojangles acknowledged Officer Powell’s concern, but wants him to understand that his experience was an exception, not the norm.
“I’ve talked to him (Officer Powell) about the incident,” said Bojangles. “It’s horrible, nobody should have to go through that. I’m sorry those clowns did that to him and all those people. But that doesn’t happen every day. The actions of a few bad clowns don’t justify coulrophobia, no matter how bad those actions may have been.”
While she understands Bojangles’s point, Green Bay resident Britt Packard says she also understands Officer Powell’s distrust. Packard recounted an incident in 2016 where she was harassed and chased by several clowns during an evening jog.
“I was going for a run past the woods, and I see this clown standing there holding a balloon,” recounted Packard. “It was creepy.”
Packard said she stopped to take a picture of the clown to show her boyfriend, and that’s when she noticed two other clowns approaching her from behind.
“I pulled my phone out to get a picture, and out of the corner of my eye I see two more clowns coming towards me from behind.”
Packard said she ran away, and the clowns pursued her briefly before giving up.
“I got away, but what if I didn’t?” Packard said. “I was terrified. I still get flashbacks whenever I see clowns at parties or on TV. They scare me, I get where that cop is coming from.”
Bojangles fears that, as long as the media continues to portray clowns in a negative light, the attacks will keep increasing. He called on lawmakers to address the situation.
“Something needs to be done, and it needed to be done yesterday,” Bojangles said. “Our elected officials need to act immediately. This is no laughing matter.”
Bojangles had a message for anyone who was afraid or distrusting of clowns.
“Under those painted smiles, we’re people too. Just think about that before you attack us.”
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