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Clowns aren't wearing make-up anymore in case it scares children

Ellen Manning

Clowns have stopped wearing makeup amid concerns they are scaring children.

Associations with horror films and rumours of ‘killer clowns’ have contributed to making youngsters wary of them, several clowns have revealed.

Speaking to Radio 4’s Today Programme, Andy Davis – also known as Andy The Clown – admitted: “The main question that we ask is are people scared of clowns?”

Another clown with 21 years experience behind him told the BBC that he had stopped wearing makeup because of the effect it had on his skin, but also because of: “this stuff with killer clowns and stuff”, while another fellow entertainer said: “Children over the years have got a little bit wary of clowns”

<em>Scared – clowns have blamed portrayals like Stephen King’s IT (posed here by a model) for scaring children (Picture: PA)</em>
Scared – clowns have blamed portrayals like Stephen King’s IT (posed here by a model) for scaring children (Picture: PA)

The comments come after the UK’s clown community last year hit out at the trailer for the remake of Stephen King’s It, saying it would affect their business and was putting families off hiring clowns to entertain children.

Andy, from Lowestoft, who is hoping to become World President of the World Clown Association next month, admitted the clown world is also dogged by “politics”.

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Fellow clown Kate Cooper, known as Elsie Fanackerpants, said: “There’s a whole committee, there’s more than one clown organisation.

“A lot of it boils down to how clowns see themselves and how they define clowns.”

<em>Politics – clowns have revealed that their world can be mired in politics (Picture: PA)</em>
Politics – clowns have revealed that their world can be mired in politics (Picture: PA)

She said: “There are those who subscribe to the, ‘you have got to know your inner clown’ school of clowning’. There are schools of clowning.

“I don’t subscribe to that particular ethos. To me it’s just pratting about. And there are clowns that would shoot me down in flames for that.

“It’s only when it gets to meetings that it can get quite heated,” she added, describing people “stomping out” or refusing to sit near certain people.

‘There were walkings out and all sorts.”

(Top picture: Getty)