Fredericton — Walter Hussey, 20, thought he came up with an awesome-yet-simple, last-minute costume idea on Oct. 31.
“I got some weird and hostile looks Monday night, but didn’t think anything of it,” said Hussey, a Caucasian, second-year UNB engineering student. “It’s Halloween, after all. Weird looks are normal. It’s kinda what you’re going for.”
Hussey’s costume of choice was his favourite superhero Luke Cage. He said all he needed was a tight T-shirt, a decent pair a jeans and some leftover black acrylic craft paint.
“Some people like Spider-Man, some like Batman, or Superman. I like Luke Cage. He’s one bad-ass, bulletproof, dude,” said Hussey. “You know when people talk about what super-power they wish they had? No joke, I always say bulletproof.”
Hussey says the backlash against his costume on social media began shortly after he posted pictures of himself as Luke Cage on Facebook Tuesday.
Comments such as: “What a culturally insensitive a**hole!”; “You are what is wrong with this country”; and “Blackface was supposed to have stopped with the civil rights movement in the ’60s… Educate yourself, moron!” began appearing in the thousands on his Facebook timeline immediately.
Still not getting his racial gaffe, Hussey believes the tight T-shirt and slacks are what offended the masses. As he puts it, “I put a six packs inside my guts, I don’t wear one on the outside.
“So, like, they’re telling me I can only dress up as a totally ripped superhero if I am totally juiced myself? I don’t get it. Seems like fat-shaming to me.”
In the interest of fairness, The Manatee dug into Hussey’s background. One might be obliged to forgive him for his ignorant folly once aware of the following facts: 1) He was born in 1996, and 2) He was educated in a province where Black History Month is a celebration of “the absence of light and colour.”
Asked if he planned to remove the offending photos from Facebook, Hussey shrugged. “Yeah, sure. I never meant to offend anyone. By the way, got any tips on how to get this paint out of my pores? I look like an idiot.”