Mum of Jeffrey Dahmer victim heartbroken over people dressing as him for Halloween
Evan Peters as Jeffrey Dahmer in the Netflix series. (Netflix)
The mother of one of Jeffrey Dahmer’s victims has described her devastation at the idea that party-goers will dress up as the serial killer for Halloween.
Dahmer murdered 17 men and boys between 1978 and 1991, many of whom were young, gay and Black, usually drugging, raping and strangling them, before mutilating their bodies.
With the release of the Netflix drama series Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, the Dahmer case has been revived, with many concerned that the ‘Milwaukee Cannibal’ will become a popular Halloween costume.
This week, glamour model Carla Bellucci made headlines after announcing that she and her child were banned from a Halloween party because she planned to dress her baby as Dahmer.
Bellucci told the Daily Star she thought it would be a “genius idea” to “do Jeffrey Dahmer because it’s a major trend right now”.
The series has already prompted criticism from the families of Dahmer’s victims, and Shirley Hughes, mother of victim Tony Hughes, described her fears surrounding the upcoming holiday.
“It’s already super triggering to see a hit Netflix series about the serial killer, much less folks dressing like the killer,” she told TMZ.
Hughes criticised platforms like eBay for selling Dahmer costumes and props, like blonde wigs and wire-rimmed glasses, and said that at the very least, profits should go to victims’ families.
no but if i see a SINGLE jeffrey dahmer halloween costume i’m gonna commit an atrocity
— Grey (@sadbokkie) October 15, 2022
Twitter not happy with people getting ready to be “Jeffrey Dahmer” for Halloween 👀😳 pic.twitter.com/GXuvF6iz0E— Daily Loud (@DailyLoud) October 11, 2022
Just a reminder since Halloween is coming up: don’t dress as anything racist and for the love of god PLEASE don’t dress up as Jeffrey dahmer like wtf— Jackie (@JackieFrankie) October 17, 2022
Shirley Hughes’ son Tony was deaf and non-vocal, and was Dahmer’s 12th victim, killed when he was 31 years old on 24 May 1991.
The mother recently told The Guardian that the Netflix series did not paint an accurate picture of what happened to her son.
“It didn’t happen like that,” said the 85-year-old, played by Karen Malina White in the show, adding: “I don’t see how they can do that. I don’t see how they can use our names and putting out that stuff out that like there.”
