The clown life
“The clown turned out to be a “nice man” in his 70s who “dresses up once a year on his birthday as a clown and hands out candy,” the Clarksville Police Department said on its Facebook page on Thursday, which was the man’s birthday. “We went to a couple of places where he frequents, and they verified he was at those places this morning dressed up as a clown.”
After giving out candy at local businesses, the man wanted to give the rest to the children at the bus stop, the police said. His intentions were good, even if the optics weren’t.
“The great clown mystery has been solved,” the police department said in its post. “EVERYONE CAN NOW BREATHE!!!!”
Online, he was not so easily forgiven. “This is 2019,” one person wrote. “You can’t dress as a clown and pass candy out to random children.” Others urged empathy for an older man who was trying do something nice. And then there were those who said that whatever had happened, it had not changed their view of clowns.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/10/us/clown-candy-police.html