No, Spirit Halloween doesn’t sell ‘Gay Guy’ costumes. Company responds to viral posts
Despite what you may have seen online, Spirit Halloween doesn’t sell a “Gay Guy” costume.
The company keeps having to respond to incredulous posts on social media from users who don’t seem to be aware of the “Fake Spirit Halloween Costumes” meme, in which people photoshop parodies of Spirit Halloween costumes.
The trend started in 2019, but popped back up this month during spooky season in the run-up to Halloween. KnowYourMeme cited parody costumes such as “Tech Tip Man” or “Gay Loser.”
Most people seemed to be having fun with it, and pretended to be offended or outraged.
“Never shopping here ever again,” one user wrote to go along with the photoshopped “Gay Loser” costume.
Another shared a photoshopped “Polyamorous Mixologist” onto a purported costume and joked “My culture is not ur costume.”
But some users appeared to be genuinely upset when they stumbled upon one that showed a person with a rainbow flag draped over their shoulders and the words “Gay Guy” next to the image.
One of them tagged Spirit Halloween on Twitter and asked “wtf is this?”
The company weighed in: “Hey! This is not something we carry or have carried before.”
Another user asked the company if it was serious, and explained the photo was one they found online.
“This is not an officially licensed costume from our company. Photoshopping our packages seems to be trending at the moment,” the company explained.
A Spirit Halloween representative told McClatchy News that the costume is not something the company would condone or put out to consumers.
Another user wrote that they were sorry their community can’t seem to take a joke.
“Real or not — it’s still hysterical,” they wrote.
Pop star Lil Nas X even joined in on the fun. Someone appeared to photoshop a picture of the singer wearing bright orange pants and a loud printed orange shirt, and titled the fake costume “gay person in terrible outfit.”
He added another clearly Photoshopped photo of him in the same outfit at a soup kitchen.
This story was originally published October 26, 2022 at 4:05 PM with the headline "No, Spirit Halloween doesn’t sell ‘Gay Guy’ costumes. Company responds to viral posts."
