eBay may have banned the sale of Dahmer Halloween costumes, but they’re still available on Amazon.
You’ve undoubtedly heard a little about convicted serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer lately, with Netfiix’s controversial scripted series. If you’ve been around as long as I have, you don’t need to be reminded of Dahmer’s heinous series of crimes of the 1980s and 90s, during which he targeted, hunted, preyed upon, and in some cases dined on a number of young black and brown boys and men in Wisconsin.
I was in college in Madison, Wisconsin at the time. As one of the black young men who mercifully dodged Dahmer, I certainly don’t want to linger on memories of that portion of the good ol’ days. However, I watched the first few minutes of the new Netflix series the other night, as I was curious about the buzz.
American Horror Story’s Evan Peters in the title role appears hauntingly excellent. Peters and I have a six degrees / Kevin Bacon thing going on, but that’s a story for another day.
Just from her initial scene, I could almost start an online campaign for Niecy Nash to get at Emmy for her performance. I know her as a comedienne, but from the small amount of footage, Nash has just scratched the surface as to what she can do in front of the camera.
That said, and as I said, I don’t need to be reminded of the story, and I certainly don’t need to see little ones turning up at my door on Halloween night, during trick-or-treating, dressed as Dahmer.
But that’s what we could have seen if eBay hadn’t had the common sense to ban the sale of Jeffrey Dahmer costumes on their site.
When I learned about that, I could hardly believe that Dahmer costumes had been sold on the site in the first place. I chalked it up to nutty, perverse, disturbed crafters who didn’t have anything else to do than try to make a buck on eBay.
But then, I got a moment of inspiration that I wish I hadn’t had: I decided to check and see what mass-produced Dahmer costumes might be available to the general public.
I almost regret my decision to do a quick Amazon search for “Jeffrey Dahmer Halloween costume.” These are just a few that are available.
What kind of sick person glorifies a real-life monster like Dahmer with a t-shirt that is not funny on any level? These shirts don’t depict Michael Myers, Frankenstein, Freddie Kruger, Dracula, Jason Voorhees, the Wearwolf, or any one of countless celluloid creatures who have captivated movie audiences for over a century.
Dahmer was real, and was really sick. And you’re just as sick as he was if you think any of the shirts seen above are funny.
But sick or not, they’re available, along with lots of others, right now, on amazon.com.
Here’s hoping a little Dahmer doesn’t show up on my doorstep this Halloween night for tricks or treats.
If he does, trust and believe that he’s going to get much more than a Milky Way from me.
And maybe, one day, I’ll get through the 10 episode series. But not today, Satan.
Not today.
Watch the trailer to Netflix’s “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story.
