The Most Offensive Celebrity Costumes Ever

Image via Getty/Paul Archuleta

I couldn’t really have expected a lot more of Nicky Hilton—she might be around savvy businesspeople but she’s not exactly known for being a socially conscious celebrity. But the trivialization of Native Americans in any situation—whether that’s by wearing a headdress at Coachella or donning a full Pocahontas-esque, so-stereotypical-it-hurts Halloween costume like Nicky —is just another sad reminder of how we treat Native Americans in this country. It’s not a costume for them, so it shouldn’t be one for you (and given that sister Paris made the first mistake of going as a "Sexy Indian" in 2010, shouldn't this be a double offense from not learning from the first time?).

Okay, so those of us who were in undergrad in twenty-ought-six remember every frat dude wearing this costume with their girlfriend, who was either dressed as Paris Hilton or a slutty nurse(ing student). Though this costume is beyond played out, Maher took it to a whole new level with his defiant refusal to apologize for his garment transgression. His quote: “People who really love animals understand if you get killed by one, chances are you were doing something to it you shouldn't have been,” speaks for itself.

So, there’s the bizarre implications that lend themselves to dressing up like this as a couple (oh, she’s the pilgrim, so is she the one who’s going to systematically kill his people and culture? Kinky!) There’s also the basic offensiveness of a white guy donning a headdress and face paint to make himself look like a caricature of a Native American. The truly worst part of this costume was the timing: the couple insensitively forced everyone to remember the violence native Americans had to face at the hands of the Pilgrims literally during the Dakota Access Pipeline protests, in which people were protesting an oil pipeline going through sacred Native American grounds. 

Technically, Jeffrey Ross didn’t do this for Halloween, but it’s just so offensive that we just have to say it counts. The comedian showed up to the Comedy Central Roast of Roseanne Barr dressed as Joe Paterno, the deceased Penn State football coach who knew about Jerry Sandusky’s sexual abuse of children and did nothing about it. Let’s just set a general rule here: anything involving pedophilia is off limits for Halloween, or any costume party ever, okay? It’s offensive to the victims of sexual assault and that’s just not a good look. Ross was out to make a statement with this costume—he said that the “P” on his jacket stood for “People who can take a joke.” He also claimed that, “If [anyone is] offended by what they see, they can do what Joe Paterno did: look the other way.” Let’s just say there are so many better ways of making this point.

Oooof, this one is tough. Absolutely anyone who dresses as a Nazi is someone who has not thought through their entire life enough. There is simply no excuse for even considering that Nazism is a thing of the past or that it’s about time we all started loosening up about it (Charlottesville, and Heather Heyer, who lost her life to a deranged person at a Neo Nazi rally, are prime examples.) But when a British royal, the third-in-line to the throne does it? I don’t even want to touch that with a ten foot pole. What’s worse is Prince Harry dressed up as a Nazi just two weeks before Holocaust Memorial Day AND the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. I mean, come on.