A city councilor in Malden, MA is apologizing for her Halloween costume she wore two years ago portraying an Asian spa worker, reports WCVB.
Photos of her costume recently surfaced, causing her to apologize after several accused her of inciting racial violence.
The Greater Malden Asian American Community Coalition called the photo “harmful, racist and ignorant,” according to the Daily Mail.
‘Our culture, our people, and our pain are not a costume,’ the statement read. ‘Our youth, especially our young women, should not see themselves represented and mocked in this way by an elected official of our town. This is racial violence: the appropriation of Asian identity for someone’s amusement.’
Jadeane Sica is seen wearing a conical hat and a t-shirt from Orchids of Asia, the same spa New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft patronized. Authorities arrested Kraft for allegedly soliciting prostitution, but those charges were ultimately dropped.
Here's Malden councilor Jadeane Sica's costume. The man next to her has been IDed as her husband, and is apparently dressed as Patriots owner Robert Kraft who was caught in a prostitution sting at the Orchids of Asia spa in January 2019: pic.twitter.com/sXs8IBROsU
— Deanna 小美 Pan (@DDpan) November 17, 2021
Sica said it was intended as a rift on Kraft, but realizes now it was in poor taste.
“Since that time, many, myself included, have become much more aware of the fact that the women involved in cases like these are all too often vulnerable members of the Asian community who are victims of exploitation.” She vowed to do better.
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