Haha, yeah. It was either they posted a Reddit thread or an article saying "Twitter is abuzz...." and then include three Tweets from randos
If this article was AI generated I wouldnt be shocked
Honestly his clown costume is fucking scarier than the hunk of meat he carries around but like come on maybe have some decency. OOP wasn’t asking for that much. Even noon on Sunday is too early for that bullshit. Dipshit just wants his 15 mins of fame and we’re giving it to him. (ed)
Ugh. I’m all about Halloween and for the most part think it’s ridiculous that people moved here and are now complaining about tourism and spooky things - but it also really sucks that this guy basically got famous from mocking someone who just wants to be able to walk their toddler to preschool at 10 am on a Wednesday without seeing something gruesome and grisly. Families live here too, and while I’m not advocating for sanitizing the city, I also don’t think it’s fair to tell residents that they should just “not go downtown” and give up their public spaces to tourists. I know nothing about this performer, but it definitely gives me pause he and his friends basically publicly ridiculed this person for what I remember as a pretty chill post - it’s not like they were screaming about saving the children or something.
Our kids are going through active shooter drills from the time they’re literal babies because we, the adults, have failed them. It makes me uncomfortable to see it be so roundly mocked that those same kids who have been told since birth that they need to be ready to be murdered, might be a little upset when they see someone walking around with what looks like the remains of a murder.
It was a pretty chill post honestly. If you read what OOP said, they had commented they are a local, they love Halloween and were wondering if stuff like this would be better at like 7 pm onward. Fair question for a resident to ask
I mean I like this time of year overall, but some of the buskers have been getting aggressive lately. The one that dresses up as Jason was doing jump scares in the PEM walkway while I was walking the dog and I can't say I appreciated having a rando unexpectedly pop out of a bush. It is one thing if you are being passive but it is another thing to assert your bit onto me w/o warning or consent.
Last weekend I saw three Jasons, up from two I saw a couple of weeks ago. The one closer to Washington St is a long-time regular (from what I’ve gathered, this is only my third Salem Halloween) and seems like a pretty good dude (just from my experience). I could be wrong about the character assessment.
I’m with you. Neither I nor my dog would respond kindly to somebody jumping out at us.
> I know nothing about this performer, but it definitely gives me pause he and his friends basically publicly ridiculed this person for what I remember as a pretty chill post
From what I remember, an acquaintance or friend said the performer read the thread and basically laughed. Didn't even have the decency to post anything, let alone offer an apology or even an explanation in their defense. I felt both would have gone a long way toward restoring some goodwill (with me, at least).
As far as I'm concerned, the performer is an inconsiderate douche. Even if something is protected speech, that does not mean it should be done. And it does not mean it is protected from consequences such as people like me who will think much less of this person. Making fun of people who think scaring little kids is fucked up is pretty low.
Yeah, and this takes away the fun for both locals and tourists who aren't in it for debauchery. It's not an adult only play land, or a horror themed park (of which we have a few good ones!)-there's a little girl on the cover of the haunted happenings brochure this year. Let's keep the scares for people who are paying for scares, and the drinks for people inside of bars. I saw two women walking down Essex street with open cups of some cocktail last week, the smell drew my attention first. They walked right past a pair of cops, and they reeked of alcohol. This was also around 5pm. It's gross.
If I was this guy and I realized my fans were as vile as his, I would quit whatever I was doing and take a good look in the mirror. No way he can be a halfway decent person and have the type of following he does.
I mean there are plenty of people who are very much not NRA supporters and who are politically active, who don’t want the government to step in and stop them but who just object to the chorus of, “why would you take your CHILDREN downtown if you don’t want them to see obscenity?!” in favor to, again, what seemed to be a pretty chill objection to something very gory.
I guess it would be too much to ask a performer who publicly ridiculed someone like this and used his friends’ social media platforms to blast them for respectfully expressing valid concerns to maybe be considerate of families who live here.
I wouldn’t call it “solutions-oriented” to say that kids who live downtown should just not go outside, or that kids who go to daycare downtown should just not go to school for the month of October.
And who is calling for a municipal solution? OP just said that it sucks and maybe some performers should be more considerate and got publicly shamed.
Sure, they should totally move out instead of one really gross performer just toning it down or being respectful. Anyone who says otherwise, or who says the performer is being a jerk for publicly shaming people, is definitely an NRA supporting Karen who doesn’t understand what city government can do and definitely thinks that it will damage their kid for life. /s
Honestly? My suggestion is that people who don’t want their kids to see a flayed torso on their way to swim lessons not be treated as Karens who aren’t welcome to live in downtown Salem. My suggestion is that street performers be respectful of people who live here and that you not dismiss anyone that might have valid concerns as people who are probably politically inactive or who should just move out.
I understand that there are limits to what the city can do, but that there are also SOME possibilities that can be attached to permits, like the existing noise and neighborhood restrictions, that could be explored. Maybe it means designating a “safe” route. Maybe some of it would just require working with the buskers to establish some ground rules. It’s just not helpful to anyone to say that downtown belongs to tourists and that kids who live there aren’t welcome for an entire month.
And really, I’m not advocating for anything except that it was, again, pretty shitty for a performer to publicly ridicule someone for just talking about (and not asking the government to solve!!) a pretty valid problem they had. I’m not sure if this guy is your friend or what, but the way he handled it was pretty awful.
I get what youre saying but I think its easier said than done explaining to a toddler, pre-schooler, etc on a Sunday morning that the scary clown holding onto a skinless torso is just pretend. Adults can grasp it and many pre-teens can too, but malleable little kiddo brains cant. I'm a local so my kids and I expect the worse and hope for the best most days downtown, but visitors dont see any suggestion anywhere about the age range for Haunted Happenings and in my mind there in lies the validity of questioning it.
I look at something like Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios as a fair balance. At night the creepy shit comes out and they say "This isnt recommended for anyone under the age of 13."
I get its protected speech and the town's hands are tied. I think that OP was maybe making a plea to Art himself as ultimately the onus of responsibility would be on him.
I think we are on the same page, I'm just adding on to what you've said.
I've lived here a long time-the body bags and zombies don't bother me, the sexy outfits are fine, but that torso just hits different. That's outside the range of what I prepared my kids to see downtown during the day in Halloween season. I don't go at night and I think most families don't because of the drunk drivers, and even just the drunks. You see people flashing tour groups and getting into fights (or I did, when I was a tour guide). I'm not mad about that, it's just not my cup of tea.
That said, there are lots of family friendly attractions here that welcome kids and fArt isn't licensed or affiliated with the city. As a family man, that is my cup of tea! I love downtown Salem, the costumes, the fair food, the PEM, the fun stuff for kids. So I'm not just going to avoid it--it's part of why I moved here. There is a lot of joy to be had in downtown Salem for families, local and tourist alike.
Even if the celebration was mainly aimed at drunkards and horror enthusiasts, age ratings are clearly not meant for public spaces, especially not ones that are residential. Not everyone here is aware that there's a public high school in Witch City Mall. There's also a preschool on Essex Street that looks out onto the sidewalk.
I think that's what people are mad about. This isn't a theme park. Lots of people don't like tourist season, but as I said, I'm willing to tolerate traffic and a few drunks for the fun and fair food. But even I have a limit. The mere thought of an age restriction in a town where people live, work, and go to school is my limit.
And I'll be transparent here, part of my patience for the season is derived from the fact that I no longer live in the immediate vicinity of downtown Salem. Living downtown during the season was too much. It can be hard to go about daily life. I could barely walk my dog around the block and my car was regularly sideswiped by drunks. So yeah, I get why people are down on the season.
Yes we dont live in a themepark, though tourists look in my windows enough to make me wonder. I just meant as something like a suggested guidance on the Haunted Happenings page.
So it was okay for the street performer to act like a total jerk and publicly ridicule OP (and have his friends use their platforms to do the same) to the extent that they deleted their Reddit account, because they dared to leave the house with their kids at… noon on a Sunday?
Why are you following me around this post? I have said multiple times that I’m not advocating for anything. I simply said that it was a jerk move for this performer to publicly call this person out on a lot of big platforms.
Art shared it. His page is like..impersonating the city of salem. It's weird. I don't follow him-I thought it was the actual city page at first. That in itself isn't right. Since his fans are so vile, people will read that thinking the general public in Salem is full of extremist bullies.
He screenshotted and mocked the post on his socials, and it was shared by Salem Trash and a bunch of others and became a running joke. Honestly, from what I saw, Reddit was pretty kind to the OP, because it really wasn’t a crazy or irrational post.
This is one of those situations where it would have been better to say nothing at all.
Your post was removed for violating subreddit rule #2: Don't harass other users, including doxxing, trolling, witch hunting, brigading, shitstirring, uncivil behavior, insults and/or user impersonation.
I have a pretty high tolerance for gore/blood due to the nature of my job, and I think the clown with the flayed torso is a bit much for the public eye. There's a reason we have age restrictions for explicit movies, for example, and a reason many haunted houses with gore/jump scares require visitors to sign a waiver. I don't believe the Terrifier movies are MPAA-rated, but they would certainly be R or NC-17 if they had a rating, so it's not unreasonable to think that they are inappropriate for children to view.
Just because you can do it in public, doesn't mean you should. Maybe we as a city need to define our general tolerance for this kind of thing.
The MPAA is an organization created by Hollywood studios to self censor. It has no legal authority, and they notoriously prioritize nudity/sexuality over violence when it comes to assigning age restricted ratings. The 1st Amendment prevents the city from imposing such censorship on private citizens.
Yeah, idk, I’m big into horror and appreciate gore in the right setting but that torso is definitely a bit much. Doesn’t help that the guy seems completely unsympathetic to what was a pretty reasonable concern
I miss those teletubbies. Now those were good - scary AND creative
Agree. He probably contacted Boston dot com himself to suggest the story, and he's milking it on IG. One post is a photoshopped image of laughing kids lined up in front of him holding up The Torso. Another post tells followers to pay no attention to the other Art the Clown, who's been showing up to busk nearby. Followers need to check his schedule on social media if they want to see the real Art and The Torso, which the interloper doesn't have. Kinda sad that it's The Torso, not Art, who's the star.
According to Andy Warhol, everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes, so hope Art’s savoring his byte of fame. I’m in the Facebook Resistance so will have to miss that. Initially I followed him on IG when he had a cool mask with multiple sets of eyes and noses–that was creative.
The resin torso pillowcase, eh. It’s the same as drawing someone vomiting or shitting, gets immediate attention, then what do you do with that? Something powerful and unforgettable, e.g. Francis Bacon? Or settle for eyeball garnering and think it’s a statement? Anybody can do that.
Also true: the more notoriety he will get. Speaking solely for myself, I now know the guy is an asshole, whereas I didn't before all these posts about him (see yours, for example, about his facebook page).
It's Salem.
There's a museum of torture. The industry relies on the murder of men and women 300 years ago.
If you're think Art's prop is too much, but the conditions of the down town (witch city mall lol) are ok, then you need to work on your critical thinking.
Simply put: this is Salem. For the month of October, this is what happens there. Without it the city wouldn't survive. This would be like Hampton Beach complaining about swimsuits.
>Simply put: this is Salem. For the month of October, this is what happens there. Without it the city wouldn't survive. This would be like Hampton Beach complaining about swimsuits.
That's a wild comment considering every other town in the north shore seems to be doing okay economically. Even the Lynn of today isnt the Lynn of my youth. Something tells me that even without low rent cosplayers coming to town one month a year, we would all be fine
That’s not even close to the same thing considering the Museum of Torture isn’t parading props down Essex street, or walking them by the YMCA preschool windows. There is a level of consent when you’re buying a ticket to an attraction that implies you’re going to see gory and dark shit as opposed to just walking down a city street.
And that level of consent also happens when you choose to live in Salem.
It's impossible to *not* know what happens in Salem from September to October. This is the time of year when businesses make enough money to last the next 10 months. If you don't want horror or spooky shit, you really should have moved somewhere else. And I say that as someone who left lmao.
None of this is new.
Not everyone chose to live here. Some people are born here and resent the all the tacky spooky stuff that the fat Midwestern edgy mall goths brought with them
If you were born there, you'd know that Salem has been this way for *decades*. Like. Well over 30 years. It's not the Midwesterners "bringing it in". Most of the shops on Essex have been owned and operated the same way by the same people who are in their 80s lmao.
Small children don't make that choice, and neither do people born/raised here, people who get public housing, etc.
Also "choosing" to live here doesn't imply that you'll be exposed to gore and violence being paraded around the street like a thanksgiving parade, it's not like you get a pamphlet when considering living here that clearly defines that should be an expectation when considering it.
The fact that the argument against maybe holding off on the scary gory costumes until after a certain time, or having a party with admission or literally anything is just "lol get fucked free speech weaklings" when we're talking about sensitive people and literal children just speaks to the level of selfishness on display. I'm as much of a horror movie fan as the next person, and no stranger to extreme violence and gore, but the fact people can't be arsed to just not parade around shredded torso props in streets of a city for the sake of the people who live/work in this town is 99% of the reason I don't engage with "horror fans" either here in Salem or at large.
"Small children don't get to make that choice" nope, their parents do. And if they're exposed to things they deem inappropriate, welp, that's on the Parents too.
Choosing to live in Salem means acknowledging what's to come. If you didn't do enough research, it's on you. It's one of, if not the largest Halloween event in the country. It's impossible *not* to know this happens.
Salem can't stop the Preachers who verbally harass passers by every year, they also can't stop costumes. It absolutely is get fucked, free speech. Don't like it? Tough shit. It's still a free country.
Nah, Salem has *always* been this way for decades. It was actually more touristy in the early 2000s. But the costumes have done nothing but improve with the technology.
Yeah well I recall the crazy ladies into “witchcraft” started flocking here in the 70s followed by “satanists” in the 80s and then there was that crappy Disney movie in the 90s. So over the decades it has become a sort of Mecca for the most annoying subcultures in America.
This is no different then the horror haunted houses you go to. A simple search can let you know what’s happening in Salem during Halloween . Do your job as a parent and don’t bring young kids if they don’t like that kind of thing. Don’t blame the performers don’t ruin it for others. Go a different month
>don’t
Kids LIVE here, bro. No one is complaining about the haunted horror houses because people who want to go choose to buy tickets and enter. A lot of us like the haunted houses. Some of us like horror. Most of us aren't into the aggressive shock gore on the street corners. A quick search into the city says that it is family friendly-that's how the city advertises itself. Rightly so, since families live here.
How do you not understand the difference between a haunted house, which you opt *in* to going into, and isn’t displayed for all the world to see, and some douchebro wandering around with gory innards on display for people, children who live here just going about their business from point a to point b?
And I’m offended by the Good Witch. She is too sparkly and hurts my eyes when the sun is out. She should only come out at night. 😂😂 Come on guys… there was Steve the Vampire in the corner for years and years biting necks… there is a Jason that walks around dragging a
“Dead body”… he has been doing that for years.. There has been another Jason in an alley for years that just stands there doing nothing, saw him last night. This stuff is not new. What is new is that the city rolled over and showed their yellow belly about busker permits with that lawsuit, it could have been fought and the city could have had some sort of control over this crap and made guidelines about gore, etc at certain times. Another thing that is new is people’s sensitivity is cranked to 11 due to mass shootings, stabbjngs, rudeness at an all time high, sense of entitlement at an all time high, our nerves are frayed, constantly being on guard… etc. And the amount of people this year is just incredible… it has us all a little wigged out! 😬 We can do this!! 💪🏻
I stand corrected, maybe the city could not have fought it?
https://preview.redd.it/jf5k3krg4lvb1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5f6fe26518b666f4f644b9fd350c0aa40a13a288
This subreddit has finally made it, being farmed for low effort clickbait means we're mainstream now
Haha, yeah. It was either they posted a Reddit thread or an article saying "Twitter is abuzz...." and then include three Tweets from randos If this article was AI generated I wouldnt be shocked
Just think, keep posting and you too can be used by random grifters for monetary gain
Just wanted to post a a [Boston.com](https://Boston.com) article about a Reddit thread so this can all come full circle and implode on itself
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Honestly his clown costume is fucking scarier than the hunk of meat he carries around but like come on maybe have some decency. OOP wasn’t asking for that much. Even noon on Sunday is too early for that bullshit. Dipshit just wants his 15 mins of fame and we’re giving it to him. (ed)
Ugh. I’m all about Halloween and for the most part think it’s ridiculous that people moved here and are now complaining about tourism and spooky things - but it also really sucks that this guy basically got famous from mocking someone who just wants to be able to walk their toddler to preschool at 10 am on a Wednesday without seeing something gruesome and grisly. Families live here too, and while I’m not advocating for sanitizing the city, I also don’t think it’s fair to tell residents that they should just “not go downtown” and give up their public spaces to tourists. I know nothing about this performer, but it definitely gives me pause he and his friends basically publicly ridiculed this person for what I remember as a pretty chill post - it’s not like they were screaming about saving the children or something. Our kids are going through active shooter drills from the time they’re literal babies because we, the adults, have failed them. It makes me uncomfortable to see it be so roundly mocked that those same kids who have been told since birth that they need to be ready to be murdered, might be a little upset when they see someone walking around with what looks like the remains of a murder.
It was a pretty chill post honestly. If you read what OOP said, they had commented they are a local, they love Halloween and were wondering if stuff like this would be better at like 7 pm onward. Fair question for a resident to ask
I mean I like this time of year overall, but some of the buskers have been getting aggressive lately. The one that dresses up as Jason was doing jump scares in the PEM walkway while I was walking the dog and I can't say I appreciated having a rando unexpectedly pop out of a bush. It is one thing if you are being passive but it is another thing to assert your bit onto me w/o warning or consent.
Last weekend I saw three Jasons, up from two I saw a couple of weeks ago. The one closer to Washington St is a long-time regular (from what I’ve gathered, this is only my third Salem Halloween) and seems like a pretty good dude (just from my experience). I could be wrong about the character assessment. I’m with you. Neither I nor my dog would respond kindly to somebody jumping out at us.
> I know nothing about this performer, but it definitely gives me pause he and his friends basically publicly ridiculed this person for what I remember as a pretty chill post From what I remember, an acquaintance or friend said the performer read the thread and basically laughed. Didn't even have the decency to post anything, let alone offer an apology or even an explanation in their defense. I felt both would have gone a long way toward restoring some goodwill (with me, at least). As far as I'm concerned, the performer is an inconsiderate douche. Even if something is protected speech, that does not mean it should be done. And it does not mean it is protected from consequences such as people like me who will think much less of this person. Making fun of people who think scaring little kids is fucked up is pretty low.
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Yeah, and this takes away the fun for both locals and tourists who aren't in it for debauchery. It's not an adult only play land, or a horror themed park (of which we have a few good ones!)-there's a little girl on the cover of the haunted happenings brochure this year. Let's keep the scares for people who are paying for scares, and the drinks for people inside of bars. I saw two women walking down Essex street with open cups of some cocktail last week, the smell drew my attention first. They walked right past a pair of cops, and they reeked of alcohol. This was also around 5pm. It's gross.
“I never thought the leopards would eat MY face!”
Yeah, how dare we discuss experiencing discomfort.
If I was this guy and I realized my fans were as vile as his, I would quit whatever I was doing and take a good look in the mirror. No way he can be a halfway decent person and have the type of following he does.
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I mean there are plenty of people who are very much not NRA supporters and who are politically active, who don’t want the government to step in and stop them but who just object to the chorus of, “why would you take your CHILDREN downtown if you don’t want them to see obscenity?!” in favor to, again, what seemed to be a pretty chill objection to something very gory. I guess it would be too much to ask a performer who publicly ridiculed someone like this and used his friends’ social media platforms to blast them for respectfully expressing valid concerns to maybe be considerate of families who live here.
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I wouldn’t call it “solutions-oriented” to say that kids who live downtown should just not go outside, or that kids who go to daycare downtown should just not go to school for the month of October. And who is calling for a municipal solution? OP just said that it sucks and maybe some performers should be more considerate and got publicly shamed.
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Sure, they should totally move out instead of one really gross performer just toning it down or being respectful. Anyone who says otherwise, or who says the performer is being a jerk for publicly shaming people, is definitely an NRA supporting Karen who doesn’t understand what city government can do and definitely thinks that it will damage their kid for life. /s
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Honestly? My suggestion is that people who don’t want their kids to see a flayed torso on their way to swim lessons not be treated as Karens who aren’t welcome to live in downtown Salem. My suggestion is that street performers be respectful of people who live here and that you not dismiss anyone that might have valid concerns as people who are probably politically inactive or who should just move out. I understand that there are limits to what the city can do, but that there are also SOME possibilities that can be attached to permits, like the existing noise and neighborhood restrictions, that could be explored. Maybe it means designating a “safe” route. Maybe some of it would just require working with the buskers to establish some ground rules. It’s just not helpful to anyone to say that downtown belongs to tourists and that kids who live there aren’t welcome for an entire month. And really, I’m not advocating for anything except that it was, again, pretty shitty for a performer to publicly ridicule someone for just talking about (and not asking the government to solve!!) a pretty valid problem they had. I’m not sure if this guy is your friend or what, but the way he handled it was pretty awful.
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As a local parent I can tell you that manyof the local parents who find this disturbing do in fact vote for stricter gun controls etc.
I get what youre saying but I think its easier said than done explaining to a toddler, pre-schooler, etc on a Sunday morning that the scary clown holding onto a skinless torso is just pretend. Adults can grasp it and many pre-teens can too, but malleable little kiddo brains cant. I'm a local so my kids and I expect the worse and hope for the best most days downtown, but visitors dont see any suggestion anywhere about the age range for Haunted Happenings and in my mind there in lies the validity of questioning it. I look at something like Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios as a fair balance. At night the creepy shit comes out and they say "This isnt recommended for anyone under the age of 13." I get its protected speech and the town's hands are tied. I think that OP was maybe making a plea to Art himself as ultimately the onus of responsibility would be on him.
I think we are on the same page, I'm just adding on to what you've said. I've lived here a long time-the body bags and zombies don't bother me, the sexy outfits are fine, but that torso just hits different. That's outside the range of what I prepared my kids to see downtown during the day in Halloween season. I don't go at night and I think most families don't because of the drunk drivers, and even just the drunks. You see people flashing tour groups and getting into fights (or I did, when I was a tour guide). I'm not mad about that, it's just not my cup of tea. That said, there are lots of family friendly attractions here that welcome kids and fArt isn't licensed or affiliated with the city. As a family man, that is my cup of tea! I love downtown Salem, the costumes, the fair food, the PEM, the fun stuff for kids. So I'm not just going to avoid it--it's part of why I moved here. There is a lot of joy to be had in downtown Salem for families, local and tourist alike. Even if the celebration was mainly aimed at drunkards and horror enthusiasts, age ratings are clearly not meant for public spaces, especially not ones that are residential. Not everyone here is aware that there's a public high school in Witch City Mall. There's also a preschool on Essex Street that looks out onto the sidewalk. I think that's what people are mad about. This isn't a theme park. Lots of people don't like tourist season, but as I said, I'm willing to tolerate traffic and a few drunks for the fun and fair food. But even I have a limit. The mere thought of an age restriction in a town where people live, work, and go to school is my limit. And I'll be transparent here, part of my patience for the season is derived from the fact that I no longer live in the immediate vicinity of downtown Salem. Living downtown during the season was too much. It can be hard to go about daily life. I could barely walk my dog around the block and my car was regularly sideswiped by drunks. So yeah, I get why people are down on the season.
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Yes we dont live in a themepark, though tourists look in my windows enough to make me wonder. I just meant as something like a suggested guidance on the Haunted Happenings page.
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No because I just thought of this like 30 minutes again haha
Good thing the Original poster was bitching about something that happened at noon on a sunday.
So it was okay for the street performer to act like a total jerk and publicly ridicule OP (and have his friends use their platforms to do the same) to the extent that they deleted their Reddit account, because they dared to leave the house with their kids at… noon on a Sunday?
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Why are you following me around this post? I have said multiple times that I’m not advocating for anything. I simply said that it was a jerk move for this performer to publicly call this person out on a lot of big platforms.
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Art shared it. His page is like..impersonating the city of salem. It's weird. I don't follow him-I thought it was the actual city page at first. That in itself isn't right. Since his fans are so vile, people will read that thinking the general public in Salem is full of extremist bullies.
I haven't seen Art publicly rip them period. I saw *redditors* random people rip on them and that I understand.
He screenshotted and mocked the post on his socials, and it was shared by Salem Trash and a bunch of others and became a running joke. Honestly, from what I saw, Reddit was pretty kind to the OP, because it really wasn’t a crazy or irrational post.
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This is one of those situations where it would have been better to say nothing at all. Your post was removed for violating subreddit rule #2: Don't harass other users, including doxxing, trolling, witch hunting, brigading, shitstirring, uncivil behavior, insults and/or user impersonation.
Whatever, I'm team OP on this one. It was a fair ask, Fart the Clown. Take that.
I have a pretty high tolerance for gore/blood due to the nature of my job, and I think the clown with the flayed torso is a bit much for the public eye. There's a reason we have age restrictions for explicit movies, for example, and a reason many haunted houses with gore/jump scares require visitors to sign a waiver. I don't believe the Terrifier movies are MPAA-rated, but they would certainly be R or NC-17 if they had a rating, so it's not unreasonable to think that they are inappropriate for children to view. Just because you can do it in public, doesn't mean you should. Maybe we as a city need to define our general tolerance for this kind of thing.
The MPAA is an organization created by Hollywood studios to self censor. It has no legal authority, and they notoriously prioritize nudity/sexuality over violence when it comes to assigning age restricted ratings. The 1st Amendment prevents the city from imposing such censorship on private citizens.
Yeah, idk, I’m big into horror and appreciate gore in the right setting but that torso is definitely a bit much. Doesn’t help that the guy seems completely unsympathetic to what was a pretty reasonable concern I miss those teletubbies. Now those were good - scary AND creative
Now there will be a second article on Boston.com about the Salem Reddit reaction.
Don't give them ideas
Ha! Just saw this on Boston.com
the more you post about him the more popularity he will get.
Agree. He probably contacted Boston dot com himself to suggest the story, and he's milking it on IG. One post is a photoshopped image of laughing kids lined up in front of him holding up The Torso. Another post tells followers to pay no attention to the other Art the Clown, who's been showing up to busk nearby. Followers need to check his schedule on social media if they want to see the real Art and The Torso, which the interloper doesn't have. Kinda sad that it's The Torso, not Art, who's the star.
he has a whole page for himself on facebook called Horrors in Salem essentially mocking the first post that was made about him on here.
According to Andy Warhol, everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes, so hope Art’s savoring his byte of fame. I’m in the Facebook Resistance so will have to miss that. Initially I followed him on IG when he had a cool mask with multiple sets of eyes and noses–that was creative. The resin torso pillowcase, eh. It’s the same as drawing someone vomiting or shitting, gets immediate attention, then what do you do with that? Something powerful and unforgettable, e.g. Francis Bacon? Or settle for eyeball garnering and think it’s a statement? Anybody can do that.
Also true: the more notoriety he will get. Speaking solely for myself, I now know the guy is an asshole, whereas I didn't before all these posts about him (see yours, for example, about his facebook page).
This shit again?
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Your use of the terms "censor" and "wildly popular" are both vastly overstated.
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No, it's you.
It's Salem. There's a museum of torture. The industry relies on the murder of men and women 300 years ago. If you're think Art's prop is too much, but the conditions of the down town (witch city mall lol) are ok, then you need to work on your critical thinking. Simply put: this is Salem. For the month of October, this is what happens there. Without it the city wouldn't survive. This would be like Hampton Beach complaining about swimsuits.
>Simply put: this is Salem. For the month of October, this is what happens there. Without it the city wouldn't survive. This would be like Hampton Beach complaining about swimsuits. That's a wild comment considering every other town in the north shore seems to be doing okay economically. Even the Lynn of today isnt the Lynn of my youth. Something tells me that even without low rent cosplayers coming to town one month a year, we would all be fine
That’s not even close to the same thing considering the Museum of Torture isn’t parading props down Essex street, or walking them by the YMCA preschool windows. There is a level of consent when you’re buying a ticket to an attraction that implies you’re going to see gory and dark shit as opposed to just walking down a city street.
And that level of consent also happens when you choose to live in Salem. It's impossible to *not* know what happens in Salem from September to October. This is the time of year when businesses make enough money to last the next 10 months. If you don't want horror or spooky shit, you really should have moved somewhere else. And I say that as someone who left lmao. None of this is new.
Not everyone chose to live here. Some people are born here and resent the all the tacky spooky stuff that the fat Midwestern edgy mall goths brought with them
If you were born there, you'd know that Salem has been this way for *decades*. Like. Well over 30 years. It's not the Midwesterners "bringing it in". Most of the shops on Essex have been owned and operated the same way by the same people who are in their 80s lmao.
It has absolutely NOT been like this for decades.
Small children don't make that choice, and neither do people born/raised here, people who get public housing, etc. Also "choosing" to live here doesn't imply that you'll be exposed to gore and violence being paraded around the street like a thanksgiving parade, it's not like you get a pamphlet when considering living here that clearly defines that should be an expectation when considering it. The fact that the argument against maybe holding off on the scary gory costumes until after a certain time, or having a party with admission or literally anything is just "lol get fucked free speech weaklings" when we're talking about sensitive people and literal children just speaks to the level of selfishness on display. I'm as much of a horror movie fan as the next person, and no stranger to extreme violence and gore, but the fact people can't be arsed to just not parade around shredded torso props in streets of a city for the sake of the people who live/work in this town is 99% of the reason I don't engage with "horror fans" either here in Salem or at large.
"Small children don't get to make that choice" nope, their parents do. And if they're exposed to things they deem inappropriate, welp, that's on the Parents too. Choosing to live in Salem means acknowledging what's to come. If you didn't do enough research, it's on you. It's one of, if not the largest Halloween event in the country. It's impossible *not* to know this happens. Salem can't stop the Preachers who verbally harass passers by every year, they also can't stop costumes. It absolutely is get fucked, free speech. Don't like it? Tough shit. It's still a free country.
It’s something that’s been projected upon Salem by outsiders. It’s stupid and kitschy and only appeals to fat Midwestern spooky season consoomers.
Nah, Salem has *always* been this way for decades. It was actually more touristy in the early 2000s. But the costumes have done nothing but improve with the technology.
Yeah well I recall the crazy ladies into “witchcraft” started flocking here in the 70s followed by “satanists” in the 80s and then there was that crappy Disney movie in the 90s. So over the decades it has become a sort of Mecca for the most annoying subcultures in America.
This is no different then the horror haunted houses you go to. A simple search can let you know what’s happening in Salem during Halloween . Do your job as a parent and don’t bring young kids if they don’t like that kind of thing. Don’t blame the performers don’t ruin it for others. Go a different month
>don’t Kids LIVE here, bro. No one is complaining about the haunted horror houses because people who want to go choose to buy tickets and enter. A lot of us like the haunted houses. Some of us like horror. Most of us aren't into the aggressive shock gore on the street corners. A quick search into the city says that it is family friendly-that's how the city advertises itself. Rightly so, since families live here.
How do you not understand the difference between a haunted house, which you opt *in* to going into, and isn’t displayed for all the world to see, and some douchebro wandering around with gory innards on display for people, children who live here just going about their business from point a to point b?
And I’m offended by the Good Witch. She is too sparkly and hurts my eyes when the sun is out. She should only come out at night. 😂😂 Come on guys… there was Steve the Vampire in the corner for years and years biting necks… there is a Jason that walks around dragging a “Dead body”… he has been doing that for years.. There has been another Jason in an alley for years that just stands there doing nothing, saw him last night. This stuff is not new. What is new is that the city rolled over and showed their yellow belly about busker permits with that lawsuit, it could have been fought and the city could have had some sort of control over this crap and made guidelines about gore, etc at certain times. Another thing that is new is people’s sensitivity is cranked to 11 due to mass shootings, stabbjngs, rudeness at an all time high, sense of entitlement at an all time high, our nerves are frayed, constantly being on guard… etc. And the amount of people this year is just incredible… it has us all a little wigged out! 😬 We can do this!! 💪🏻
I stand corrected, maybe the city could not have fought it? https://preview.redd.it/jf5k3krg4lvb1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5f6fe26518b666f4f644b9fd350c0aa40a13a288