I don’t know about you, but if I bring my child to the circus, I’m expecting skits with goofy clowns, trapeze artists, elephants, a master of ceremonies and lots and lots of popcorn, cotton candy and peanuts! I’m sure I’m not alone. So when a mother took her children to the Universoul Circus in Atlanta a few days ago, she was stunned by the final act.
In an interview with WSBTV, Kristen Brown said, “There are ladies pretending to strip, men throwing money at her, then a pimp comes on the stage and the woman’s boyfriend sells her to him and the pimp slaps her when she refuses to cooperate,” Brown said. “They’re pretending to smoke marijuana and sniff cocaine.”
A Cafe Mom posted, “Universoul Circus 2011 Atlanta 6:30pm show Feb 20th performed a graphic skit about prostitution, drugs, alcohol and assault. They had alcohol bottles, pretended to smoke weed, the women were stripping while men threw money at them, and a man dressed as a pimp slapped a woman to the ground and forced her to take shots and sniff cocaine off her hand. I felt his was not appropriate for a young audience coming to see a circus. What do you think?”
I think boycott, outrage, disgust.
A circus spokesman responded to WSBTV with, “Our show is about positive messages and sometimes to get to those high you have to go to those lows.” Apparently, the woman is sold into prostitution, beaten, put on drugs and forced to have sex, but then is redeemed and “giving her life over to Christ.”
When did the circus turn into a prime time drama? What’s worse, the demographics of the show are family and children and the expectation of a C-I-R-C-U-S is good, old-fashioned fun, not cocaine, sex and violence. [I missed the positive message]. Violence against women is a global tragedy and human trafficking is an even deeper, painful problem that appears to see no end.
One male patron told WSBTV, “It was a little graphic, but I mean it’s real life. It happens.”
Not at a CIRCUS. Not in front of the clowns, the elephants, the peanut vendor and especially, not in front of the children.
