Teen Vogue: ‘The Wall’ and ‘Border Patrol’ Halloween Costumes Send ‘Message of Hate’

An article in Teen Vogue warns that wearing a Halloween costume that looks like a brick wall graffitied “THE WALL” spreads a “message of hate and discrimination.”

The magazine advises its teen readers: “Before you don a costume like this one — or the costume bearing a border patrol agent — be conscious of the message of hate and discrimination that you’re silently endorsing.”

The caution includes a tweet containing a photo of the costume saying, “If cultural appropriation on Halloween isn’t for you, here’s a directly racist costume straight from @PartyCity.”

The article entitled “Wall Costume from Party City Gets Slammed Online,” includes one tweet and references another person’s writing, “Still not ideal timing to be selling it though.”

Teen Vogue says the Halloween garb could be discussing “Donald Trump’s ‘build a wall’ immigration policy,” or “Pink Floyd’s ‘The Wall’ album.”

“THE WALL” outfit for adults is online at the Party City website and costs $29.99.

In late September, Teen Vogue published an article that took aim at Border Patrol costumes, including one called “Border Babe.” It warned teens that costumes can be “offensive” so “it’s important to think through the implications of a costume before putting it on.” It called the “outfit insensitive to the many families who may face forced deportation under the Donald Trump administration and to the Dreamers, who are rightly concerned about Trump ending DACA.”

Spirit Halloween sells the “Border Patrol” costumes and the Border Babe costume is sold out.  The company still has a Border Patrol Hat for sale, and Teen Vogue reports “There’s a green shirt emblazoned with ‘Agent Wall’ and hat combo available near the Donald Trump masks.”

The magazine, aimed at juveniles, quoted Steven Choi, director of the New York Immigration Coalition who told the Gothamist, “It takes a vast amount of privilege to find humor in a uniform that represents terror and fear for millions of New Yorkers … We hope people will exercise better judgement and choose not to spend their money at these stores.”

Spirit Halloween released a statement that said:

Spirit Halloween offers a full range of Halloween costumes that celebrate and appreciate all cultures, occupations and figures, both real and imaginary. With that, we playfully acknowledge topical themes – and building the wall is certainly a trending conversation in today’s political climate. We believe this costume carries similar sentiments akin to that of a police officer, military costumes, firefighter, doctor and more. As the president continues to drive the headlines and hashtags, we have costumes for everyone to join in on the fun, including: piggybacking on Mr. President, a host of masks that illustrate Trump’s many personas and a presidential BFF Putin mask. We’ve respectfully developed these costumes knowing that Halloween is a time for humor and fun, and due to the overwhelming popularity of these items last year, we think it’ll be a huge hit with our shoppers again!

Teen Vogue calls itself, “The REBELLIOUS, OUTSPOKEN, EMPOWERING magazine that you need right now.”

The teenage magazine was most recently criticized for an online ‘tutorial” on anal sex. The “Sex Guide” was called “Dangerous” by The Christian Post.

Lana Shadwick is a writer and legal analyst for Breitbart Texas. She has served as a prosecutor and associate judge in Texas. Follow her on GAB @lanashadwick and Twitter @LanaShadwick2.