Professional Clowns Say 'Creepy Clown' Craze Hurting Business

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The clown craze is no laughing matter to professional clowns here in the Twin Cities.

Cora Parker is also known as Dotz, a professional clown from St. Michael. She is a member of a Maple Lake clown group.

"We have 32 clowns from the age of eight to 80," Parker said.

The recent evil clown craze is driving them nuts. She also said she is not too happy with journalists calling these people clowns.

"When somebody says just clown, it refers to our profession," she said. "These people are imitators."

She says it's also affecting business. Lately when she gets a call for a gig, she's asked if she's an evil clown. Also, being close to Halloween doesn't help. They try to avoid wearing the costumes this time of year.

"We will not dress in clown," Parker said, "because we don't want to be associated with the scary clowns."