Celebrity Halloween Costumes That Went Too Far

It's time to prepare your Halloween looks for 2021's spooky season, which means it's also time to remember all the occasions in which celebrity costumes were less than well-received by viewers around the world. After all, because celebrities are viewed by so many and criticism of them is so publicly displayed, they serve as good examples of what not to do on Halloween.

When putting together your costume, think about clever costumes that won't miss the mark and never forget why we wear costumes on Halloween in the first place. If you know your history, you're less likely to commit a Halloween sin, after all.

Halloween is beloved because it's a time to let loose, embrace oddities, and live life to the fullest, but it can go too far. There are lines that shouldn't be crossed, and sometimes celebrities cross them. These are some of the worst offenders.

One of the worst sins you can commit on Halloween is doing blackface, which is when a white person paints their face to look darker than it is, which, As CNN points out, "invokes a racist and painful history." 

Unfortunately, Julianne Hough committed this sin in 2013 when she dressed as Suzanne "Crazy Eyes" Warren from Netflix's "Orange Is the New Black" (via Insider).

At the time, the prison drama was new to Netflix, and Crazy Eyes was a fan-favorite resident of Litchfield Penitentiary. Still, there are ways to denote this character in a costume that doesn't involve blackface.

You shouldn't appropriate other cultures on Halloween. This includes wearing a Day of the Dead costume, which Ashley Tisdale did in 2016 (via Metro). 

The Day of the Dead is a Mexican holiday during which people honor those who have left this plane of existence. It's a sacred time, and to wear that grief and honor as a costume is not only appropriate but harmful to the people that practice this holiday. The Day of the Dead in pop culture is often seen through ornate face paintings, and while they're beautiful, they're reserved for this holiday, not Halloween.

Where Ashley Tisdale appropriated Mexican culture, Heidi Klum appropriated Hindu culture. 

According to Mirror, Klum dressed as the Hindu goddess Kali in 2008, which involved her being blue from head to toe as well as having multiple extra arms and severed skulls around her body. Gods and goddesses are incredibly sacred in the Hindu religion, and they're not something that can be reduced to an aesthetic or Halloween costume. It's offensive to trivialize a religion's deities in this way.

Finally, you shouldn't dress as a caricature of a group of people, especially a collective societal image of a group of people that's been constructed by white nationalism. To that end, Chris Brown dressed as the traditional American idea of a terrorist in 2012, per Insider. He posted his costume, which included a turban and other traditional Middle Eastern attire, to Instagram with the caption "Ain't nobody F*****g with my clique" before deleting it after receiving criticism for it.

With these examples in mind, go forth this Halloween dressed in non-problematic costumes and have fun!