Simone Biles has a message of caution for anyone thinking about dressing up as serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer for Halloween.
Following the release of Netflix’s true crime drama “Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” last month, some people have become inspired to put together costumes of the “Milwaukee Cannibal,” who was convicted of killing and dismembering 17 men and boys between 1978 and 1991. Most of Dahmer’s victims were gay and people of color.
With Halloween around the corner, Dahmer-related merchandise has been spotted on platforms like eBay. The e-commerce company placed a ban on sales of the costumes on its site, and sellers are banned from listing items that “promote or glorify violence,” according to BuzzFeed.
On Tuesday, Biles expressed her disapproval of the trend on Twitter, and urged people to put the costumes “back in the closet.”
“Im just gon go head and say it, put the jeffrey dahmer costumes back in the closet,” the star gymnast wrote. “We ain’t having it!!!!!!”
Biles isn’t alone in voicing her disdain on Twitter for the controversial costuming choice.
“It should be legal to kick every person in the shin who wears a Dahmer costume this Halloween,” wrote Kirk Medas, who appeared on MTV’s “Floribama Shore.”
“The amount of Jeffrey Dahmer costumes this Halloween is gonna be disgusting,” another Twitter commenter said.
“If i see ANYONE dress up as jeffery dahmer for halloween hands will be thrown i’m not sorry,” another user wrote.
Evan Peters plays Dahmer on the Netflix limited drama, which has achieved massive success, becoming the streaming titan’s second-most popular English-language series of all time. The series also raked up more hours viewed on the platform than any English-language show except the fourth season of “Stranger Things.”
Additionally, “Dahmer” accumulated 496 million hours viewed in just 12 days, with Netflix estimating that at least 56 million households streamed the series in less than two weeks.
Co-created by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan, the series has been subject to criticism and backlash over its approach to the families of Dahmer’s victims. The real Dahmer died in 1994 at age 34, after being beaten by Christopher Scarver, a fellow inmate at Wisconsin’s Columbia Correctional Institution.
The mother of Anthony Hughes, one of Dahmer’s victims, has spoken out in protest of the Netflix show.
“I don’t see how they can do that,” Shirley Hughes, Tony’s mother, told The Guardian earlier this month. “I don’t see how they can use our names and put stuff out like that out there.”
Rita Isbell, the sister of Errol Lindsey, one of the men Dahmer killed, also spoke to Insider about the show last month.
“I was never contacted about the show,” Isbell said. “I feel like Netflix should’ve asked if we mind or how we felt about making it. They didn’t ask me anything. They just did it.”
