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Ku Klux Klan gear or fancy dress mishap? Cruise line staff’s white costumes spark controversy
In a now-viral video, a group of people in white dresses and hoods of the same colour were seen walking behind a person dressed as Santa Claus.
A cruise line in Australia came under fire after passengers were left horrified by the costumes worn by the staff. The employees walked out in white costumes resembling the gear worn by the white supremacist group Ku Klux Klan. Though the company denied the allegations and issued an apology, people are unconvinced.
The incident occurred on a P&O Cruises Australia vessel on December 19 during a Christmas-themed event. In a video, now going viral, a group of people dressed in white, with conned hats, are seen walking behind an individual dressed as Santa Claus.
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“There was a lot excitement [for the competition] then it all went quiet [when they walked out],” a passenger aboard the cruise told Daily Mail Australia. "The lack of judgment was astounding,” she said, adding that one of her fellow passengers dubbed it the "KKK cruise.”
Here’s a video showing the incident:
The video horrified people, with many claiming that the cruise staff knew what they were doing and that it was not just a costume mishap. An individual wrote, “They knew exactly what they were doing.” Another posted, “I have no words for this. Who would have thought this was a good idea in any way shape or form. Shameful.” A third expressed, “How does this legitimately happen? Does no one look at each other and think maybe this is a bad idea?”
“An upside-down snowcone”
That is what the cruise line claimed in an apology issued after the incident. “They were taking part in a Christmas family fun day on the ship as part of our Christmas crew,” the spokesperson Lynne Scrivens told People. “It was a tug-of-war event where the crew dress up, and our housekeeping crew decided to dress up as snow cones,” Scrivens added.
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“Our crew are from different cultures all over the world. They’re young, and they had just never heard of that organization or what their outfits could symbolize,” she expressed.
"They live and work on a cruise ship. They’re not going to [Australian craft suppliers] Spotlight to buy a bunch of materials for fancy dress. They’ve got to make do with what they’ve got,” she said, adding, “And they were wearing their cleaning uniforms, and they’ve put something on their head that looks like a snow cone — [an] upside-down snow cone, at that.”
