For the most part, early reception to American Horror Story: Freak Show has been positive. In fact, in my recap of the premiere I think I only got one “Was I the only person who thought this sucked?” comment, which is really saying something. One group is not a fan of the series, however: Clowns of America International, the nation’s largest clown organization, is mad that this season American Horror Story is going to make everyone racist against clowns. Clown racism!! It’s a thing, everybody.
The president of the clown club spoke to The Hollywood Reporter on the subject:
“Hollywood makes money sensationalizing the norm,” bemoans Glenn Kohlberger, president of Clowns of America International, the nation’s biggest clown club. “They can take any situation no matter how good or pure and turn it into a nightmare.”
With membership in the organization dwindling — its aging base is made up of 2,500 clowns, down from 3,500 in 2004 — Kohlberger, whose big-shoed alter ego is Clyde D. Scope, takes a hard-line stance against characters like Twisty.
“We do not support in any way, shape or form any medium that sensationalizes or adds to coulrophobia or ‘clown fear,’ ” Kohlberger says.
I hate to break it to the guy, but American Horror Story is not going to sully the good name of clowns, because clowns have already done a pretty good job of that. There’s a reason why we were recently able to put together an entire list of horrifying pop culture clowns. If Steve Harvey asked one hundred people how much they liked clowns on a scale of one to ten on Family Feud’s “Fast Money” game, I guaran-f*cking-tee you there wouldn’t be an answer higher than five. Any person who says “five” or higher probably has an uncle or something who used to be a clown.
