Olympic Snowboarder Shaun White has apologized to the Special Olympics organization for dressing up as an intellectually disabled character from the film “Tropic Thunder” for a Halloween party.
pic.twitter.com/zczNCaedAg
— Shaun White (@shaunwhite) October 29, 2018
Image Description: Tweet from Shaun White’s timeline. Text reads: I owe everyone in the Special Olympics community an apology for my poor choice of Halloween costume the other night. It was a last-minute choice. It was the wrong one. The Special Olympics were right to call me out on it. They do great work supporting so many tremendous athletes and I am (cut off but continued on Twitter) sorry for being so insensitive. Lesson learned.
Content Notes: Ableism, ableist slurs, non-disabled actors playing disabled characters, racism,
I’ve never seen “Tropic Thunder”, and I remember when I read the name of the movie that there was a reason for it. It only took a moment of scanning of the comments on Shaun White’s Twitter apology to remember why, as the meme of Robert Downey Junior in blackface with the words, “You went full retard” was sprinkled liberally through them. As I predicted when I read about Shaun White’s apology, the general reaction on social media has been that in apologizing he caved to demands from an overly sensitive group of politically correct snowflakes – he has the perfect right to dress however he wants at a private Halloween party, and where were these people that are now so offended when the film was first released.
They were protesting, actually. I remember that fairly well.
And I actually agree that at a private party, people should feel free to dress however they want. In 2016, Queen’s University censured students for dressing in racist Halloween costumes at a student party that took place in place off of campus and that wasn’t affiliated with the school, and that strikes me as tremendous overreach. It’s not that I feel that racist, sexist, ableist (or any other “-ist”, for that matter) costumes are appropriate or in good taste, and certainly not a costume choice that I’d make. However, clearly not everyone agrees, and in private homes people can do as they choose, provided they’re not breaking the law.
And, now that I’ve read up on “Tropic Thunder”, I realize (remember?) that it’s a satire of over-the-top action movies. I didn’t remember the Simple Jack character specifically, but I now understand that it was in itself intended to be satire. He was a poke at non-disabled actors who decide to take on the “challenge” of portraying a disabled character, presumably to get credit for their acting ability: Dustin Hoffman as an autistic man in “Rain Man”, Tom Hanks as an intellectually disabled man in “Forrest Gump” and Daniel Day-Lewis as a physically disabled man in “My Left Foot.” All three of these actors won the Best Actor Oscar for their performances.
But here are the problems with what Shaun White did, and why he was right to apologize.
Lack of Context
A character costume at a party doesn’t automatically come attached with the movie’s context. I never saw “Tropic Thunder”, as I said; I had to read about it a bit to learn who Simple Jack was. If I’d been at that party Shaun White was at, and seen him there, I wouldn’t have seen someone dressed as a fictional character who was dressed as another fictional character in an attempt to satire a Hollywood trend; I’d have seen an guy poking fun at intellectually disabled people, and dismissed Shaun White as an asshole, when (giving him the benefit of the doubt now, granted that he made what seems like a sincere apology on Twitter, as opposed to the “I’m sorry if I offended people” non-apology that’s so common nowadays) he’s more likely a good guy who wasn’t thinking about what he was doing.
Shaun White’s Celebrity
And yes, Shaun White was a private party, as far as I can tell from media accounts. But he is a celebrity, and, right or wrong, public scrutiny of even his private actions comes along with that. He had to decide what kind of person he wants to be – the kind that wants to be seen as making fun of people and not caring about it, or the kind that wants to apologize quickly and promise to do better when he came across that way. Especially given that it was the Special Olympics that took offense and the people involved with Special Olympics, like him, are athletes. It was a wise choice to apologize for mocking fellow athletes, even if it was unintentional.
Public Response
I went through some of the responses to Shaun White’s tweet, and as I said earlier, most of them didn’t support his choice to apologize. I do believe that people have the right to dress as they want on Halloween, but I think that we do need to ask ourselves what kind of world we want to live in, folks. There are lots of costume ideas – a ton of them – that don’t rely on sexist, racist or ableist tropes, and if your Halloween costume has to punch down in order for you to have fun, then maybe you need to ask yourself why.
I don’t say that because I’m a “snowflake.” I’m actually pretty far from it. I just like parties where everyone’s welcome, and it’s hard to feel welcome when you see a costume across the room that’s mocking you (even if it is unintentional).
Shaun White: Conclusion
Shaun White has apologized, and his eyes now seem opened about this issue. Let’s hope that he now wants to learn even more, and welcome him as an ally. Happy Halloween, everyone!
The post Shaun White Apologizes for Ableist Halloween Costume appeared first on Girl With The Cane.
