00:00I just saw something. There was this...clown.
00:06Send in the clowns. Or maybe don't, since they're pretty ticked off right now thanks to Stephen King.
00:12You see, clowns are getting some bad press in the wake of the latest adaptation of King's It,
00:17which revolves around a terrifyingly murderous clown named Pennywise.
00:21King addressed the displeasure he was causing in the clown world last April with a tweet saying,
00:30But kids have always been scared of clowns. Don't kill the messengers for the message.
00:35King was referring to the hits being inflicted upon the legitimate clowning industry thanks to Pennywise,
00:40played by Bill Skarsgård in the latest big-screen version, and Tim Curry in the 1990 ABC miniseries adaptation.
00:47Curry's depiction of Pennywise, who could turn on a dime from lovable ham to razor-toothed child-eater,
00:53was so chilling that many believe he is to blame for the current epidemic of clown-phobia,
00:58also known as cool-rophobia, that has bubbled up in everything from FX's American Horror Story
01:03to 2016 reports of menacing clown sightings across the country. Those were typically pranksters
01:09in store-bought clown masks who lurked near schools and in residential neighborhoods, sometimes with weapons.
01:15With the current remake tracking towards blockbuster business, legitimate clowns are battening down the hatches
01:20for another spate of negative press and appearance cancellations.
01:24World Clown Association President Pam Moody, who also performs as Sparky the Firefighter Clown
01:30and teaches fire safety to kids, says of the evil clown sightings,
01:33Last year, we were really blindsided. We've since created a press kit to prepare clowns for the movie coming out.
01:40Moody feels that children are wary of clowns by instinct just as they are nervous about Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.
01:46They're different from regular people. They're costumed characters. But no one is picking on Santa Clauses
01:51because that would ruin the retail business, she says. It would ruin Christmas for everybody.
01:56Moody is definitely one of those irked clowns King references in his tweet.
02:00It all started with the original IT, she says. That introduced the concept of this character.
02:05It's a science fiction character. It's not a clown and has nothing to do with pro-clowning.
02:12To read more on this story, head to THR.com and tell us how you think Stephen King's IT has affected the way you feel about clowns.
02:19Do they scare you or are they just getting a bad rap in all of this? Let me know in the comments section.
02:24For The Hollywood Reporter News, I'm Lyndsey Rodrigues.
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