Despite being widely condemned as racist and offensive, and setting off an international firestorm in the middle of the federal election, several Ottawa costume stores have been approached by customers who are looking to buy blackface Justin Trudeau costumes for Halloween.
All of the stores contacted by CTV Ottawa turned the customers down.
A manager at one costume store who did not want to be named, confirmed in the last few weeks they’ve turned away several customers looking for the racist Trudeau costume.
Monster Halloween in Orleans also had the same request from a customer.
“He simply asked and our response was ‘I’m sorry we don’t carry anything like that’”, said manager Sam Morin. “He actually seemed quite offended and confused that we didn’t carry a Trudeau in blackface costume”, he said.
At Malabar costumes in Nepean, manager Russell Webster says he hasn’t been specifically asked about Trudeau blackface, but every year several customers request racist costumes.
“We always politely tell them it’s not a good idea and remind them what year it is”, says Webster. “Some people are just clueless. I’m sure between now and Halloween we will get a request for a Trudeau blackface costume.”
“I’m not offended. I’m not surprised. I’m a little disappointed”, said Ewart Walters, from the advocacy group Black Agenda Noir.
“We are not going to waste time with people in masks”, he said. “There are real anti-black racism issues we’re going to concentrate on.”
