eBay bans the sale of Jeffrey Dahmer costumes ahead of Halloween
Unlike Netflix, eBay's not so interested in grubbing any money from Jeffrey Dahmer's crimes this year
Aux News eBay
Just as someone else’s culture shouldn’t be your costume, someone else’s trauma shouldn’t be, either. eBay has moved to ban the sale of Jeffrey Dahmer costumes ahead of Halloween, Buzzfeed News reports. Dahmer’s story has surged back into the public eye—often to exploitative effect—with Ryan Murphy’s record-breaking new Netflix series Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story.
“These items are prohibited for sale on our site and we are removing them,” a spokesperson from eBay tells Buzzfeed of the ban on Dahmer-inspired attire. The spokesperson also confirms that eBay continues to actively remove listings from the platform—anything that violates its policy on glorifying violence and violent criminals. As of this writing, a search for “jeffrey dahmer costume” yields 0 search results on eBay, as does an inquiry for “jeffrey dahmer mask.”
eBay’s policy states that sellers are prohibited from listing items that “promote or glorify violence,” or that are associated with violent people, notorious crimes, or crime scenes from the past century. That criteria certainly includes Dahmer, who killed 17 predominantly Black men and boys between 1978 and 1991.
Although Dahmer quickly skyrocketed to the top of Netflix’s ranks as one of the streamer’s biggest original debuts ever, the series has also faced its fair share of criticism. Rita Isbell, the sister of one of Dahmer’s victims, Errol Lindsey, has publicly written about her distaste for the show. A painstaking recreation of Isbell’s emotional 1992 victim impact statement at Dahmer’s sentencing hearing appears in Dahmer. Isbell says Netflix never contacted her, or her family, about the show.
“The victims have children and grandchildren. If the show benefited them in some way, it wouldn’t feel so harsh and careless,” Isbell writes. “It’s sad that they’re just making money off of this tragedy. That’s just greed.”
30 Comments
If that’s a costume then I walk by at least a dozen “Jeffrey Dahmers” every day.
Right? I mean, good for them, I guess, but that’s just regular clothes.
Oh well, as long as I can still dress up as my favorite Canadian goalie/sous chef: Jasone LeVorhees.
Anyone who has worked in a book store will tell you that young white trash men buy A LOT of true crime books, specifically those that focus on serial killersAnd Hitler. LOTS of books about Hilter, the Third Reich and Mein Kampf (and this was well before Trump came along). This doesn’t surprise me at all.
Video games cause violence, as well as history books.
True crime audiences are about 73% female. Nice try though.
Not just white men, women are the primary audience of true crime content, they’re the ones horny for serial killer.s
lol… sure.
Wasn’t Halloween was invented to help us face things that scare us?It’s a way for humans to work their way through what traumatizes us.
I’m both scared and aroused. It’s like highschool all over again
I got a Miss Piggy notification for this?
No, no it wasn’t.
It used to be just a time of harvest. (old pagan and irish) Then somehow it became a day to honor the dead back when it was just called All Hallows Eve. For a time people literally believed evil spirits came out on Halloween so we dressed like them to ward them off. Trying to fool these spirits in believing we are one of them so they leave us alone. That actually wouldn’t sound so fun to me. I bet it was terrifying believing this. The candy wasn’t as good as now. lol
“Unlike Netflix, eBay’s not so interested in grubbing any money from Jeffrey Dahmer’s crimes this year”And AV Club continues to make money off all the articles it runs about this show, so we know where this site comes down on the issue.
AV Club makes money?
AV CLUB NEEDS BRACES
DENTAL PLAN!
Slightly confusing take that Netflix is “grubbing money” with the release of Dahmer since they’re a subscription model.
Ryan Murphy’s record-breaking new Netflix series Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story….Is that seriously the title of the show? Why did they put his name in it twice.
Its like a YouTube algorithm made it. Yes this is the title and yes its that dumb.
…who buys a “Jeffrey Dahmer” costume from eBay? Even allowing for the possibility that some people are too lazy to buy the clothes, ‘stache, and glasses separately, my first thought would be to check Party City and then give up when they don’t have it.
Heck, go to any thrift store and you can get nearly the entire ensemble for less than $10.
Im gonna be blunt. If you think dressing up as a serial killer for Halloween is a cool idea, go fuck yourself.
Ooooh, big words that mean absolutely nothing. I hope you feel better.
What about a slutty serial killer?
Shows how mature we all are that we have to ban a costume.
*We* didn’t ban anything. A private company decided not to take part in something gross. That’s it.