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A trio of 13-year-old girls and their mothers are not very happy about a Universal Halloween Horror Nights actor who referred to the girls as 'hookers' and 'sluts.'
During a press conference yesterday, two of the girls and their mothers—along with feminist lawyer Gloria Allred—said the incident occurred while they were visiting a haunt based on The Purge: Anarchy, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The Purge film franchise is about a dystopian future in which Americans have one night a year where for 12 hours, there are no emergency services and nothing is illegal. The attraction at Universal depicts this 12-hour window, and videos of the haunt show actors in masks running amuck with various weapons, including axes and baseball bats. Allred claims that while the girls were visiting the attraction, one of the actors told the girls to come over to him and called them 'hookers.' The actor asked them their names, but then said, "I'm just going to call you Slut 1, then Slut 2 and Slut 3."
He attempted to auction the girls off to the highest bidder, asking other guests how much they were worth. Allred said one guest offered a dollar, but another female actor interrupted to say that the bidding would begin at $200,000.
One of the girls' mothers, Sharla Fisher, said she was "horrified."
"She was sexualized over the microphone in front of a crowd of people and then put up for auction where an adult male from the crowd bid on her," Fisher said.
CBS aired parts of the video:
Fisher said she filed a complaint with Universal, both online and by calling the company, but was ignored. So, she contacted Allred. Allred said they are not pursuing any money just yet, but want to talk to Universal about changing policies. And she thinks they should apologize.
The teens also showed the clothes they were wearing that night, and Allred presented a mock sign she suggests Universal place at the entrance to the event. It reads: "Parents beware. Your daughter is about to enter Universal Studios for Halloween Horror Night. While on our property your daughter, who may be as young as 13 years old, may be called a 'slut,' a 'whore' or a 'hooker' by Universal employees. Proceed at your own risk."
As for the girls, they said they were embarrassed and were worried about what other people would think of them.
Video of The Purge attraction online shows a portion of the Scare Zone area where actors are auctioning victims, and insults seem par for the course. In a video from the same attraction last year, what appears to be the same actress tells someone their shoes are terrible and suggests another person use a bandana to cover up their face. It seems not so much the insulting that's the issue here, but using sexual insults on underage girls.
Universal previously decided to scrap a show based on Bill & Ted after it was deemed homophobic and racist. One Vice reporter described the entire thing, including an effeminate, gay Superman, lots of race stereotyping and a just a dash of jokes about sexual assault.
Not to be outdone, Knott's Scary Farm made fun of the 'Bill & Ted' show's cancellation being "so gay" in their annual 'The Hanging' show, which was full of unoriginal pop culture jokes about how everyone is just too dang PC today.
Contrary to apparently popular belief, it is possible to scare people without being a 13-year-old boy. Knott's has some great mazes, including their new 'Tooth Fairy' and 'Voodoo' haunts where the emphasis is on set decoration and costuming—not juvenile name-calling.
