Missouri State Fair Clown Wears Obama Mask, Outrage Follows
A rodeo clown at a Missouri State Fair is the center of controversy after wearing a President Barack Obama mask during a bull riding competition.
A picture of the spectacle was posted on Facebook and has since gone viral. The event even led to the state's second highest-ranking official, Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, to respond to the uproar on Twitter.
"We are better than this," Kinder posted to his account on Sunday.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
State Fair officials said the show in Sedalia was "inappropriate" and "does not reflect the opinions or standards" of the event. "We strive to be a family friendly event and regret that Saturday's rodeo badly missed that mark," officials said in a statement Sunday.
Perry Beam attends the State Fair almost every year felt the display was inappropriate given that the event is a state-sanctioned event that receives state funding.
Beam revealed that when the announcer directed attention to the rodeo clown wearing the mask the crowd began to cheer and applaud in approval.
"This isn't the Republican Missouri State Fair," Beam told The Associated Press. "It was cruel. It was disturbing. I'm still sick to my stomach over it. ... I'm standing here with a mixed-race family. My wife's from Taiwan, and so was the student (his family was hosting). I've never seen anything so blatantly racist in my life.
"It was at that point I began to feel a sense of fear. It was that level of enthusiasm," Beam added.
Officials with the Missouri Rodeo Cowboy Association, the organization that coordinated the rodeo, did not return phone calls seeking comment Sunday.
Scott Holste, spokesman for Missouri's Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon, said Sunday in an email that Nixon "agrees that the performance was disrespectful and offensive, and does not reflect the values of Missourians or the State Fair."
