Shaun White Has To Be Smarter Than To Dress Up As "Simple Jack" For Halloween
TMZ - Shaun White has pulled the photo of his “Simple Jack” costume off of his social and has issued an apology.
“I owe everyone in the Special Olympics community an apology for my poor choice of Halloween costume the other night.”
“It was a last minute decision. It was the wrong one.” White says.
“The Special Olympics were right to call me out on it. They do great work supporting so many tremendous athletes and I am sorry for being insensitive. Lesson learned.”
In fact, a rep for the Special Olympics tells TMZ Sports …
“We are truly disappointed that Shaun White, an acclaimed Olympian, would choose this costume which is so offensive and causes so much pain.”
“Disability is not a joke nor should it be a punchline. We hope that Shaun White and others learn that this just continues stigma, stereotypes and discrimination.”
You have got to be smarter than that if you are a celebrity. You have to. If you’re a normal person going to the bar dressed as Simple Jack, I expect some people to be like “uh, ok, that’s kinda fucked up but ok, whatever” and move on, as to not start any sort of confrontation. I could envision a drunk girl who works with special needs wagging a finger in your face by the end of the night, but that’s about it.
But if you’re Shaun White dressed up as Simple Jack and posting the picture to your Instagram page, you done fucked up. It’s just so dumb. When you’re famous and have sponsors and endorsements, you can’t dress as anything that might offend someone. And dressing as a special needs kid…uhhh…that’ll do it. Not only that, but he posted it to his own Instagram page too. COME ON MAN! How in 2018 do you not realize how dumb that is? Go as Batman. Go as a dinosaur. Do not go in black face, a special ed person, or a trans person, or another culture, or anything people could be mad about.
The thing is, it doesn’t matter if you are personally offended by Shaun White going as Simple Jack. But Shaun White has to understand people will find it offensive, so it’s just not worth doing it. Why go through the apology tour and risk losing money and fans over a freaking Halloween costume? I can’t think of anything less worth it. Find a Super Mario costume, drink 10 cocktails, bang some 10 at the party, and call it a night. Don’t dress up as Simple Jack. You’re a business, man. Be smarter.