- The Washington Times - Tuesday, August 13, 2013

The Missouri State Fair has imposed a lifetime ban on a rodeo clown who donned a mask resembling President Obama during Saturday’s bull-riding competition.

Social media exploded over the clown’s stunt, with some people calling it racist, even likening it to a KKK rally.

But as the Washington Examiner points out, this isn’t the first time a rodeo clown has worn a presidential mask.

But in 1994, Douglas A. Campbell, a writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer chronicled a rodeo clown featuring George H.W. Bush.

From the report:

The big white gate flew open. The bull came out bucking. The rider flopped from side to side and the bullfighters held back, letting the bull make his moves until the rider dropped off. Licciardello crouched in a heavily padded barrel, a human target should the bull decide to charge. Hawkins waited near the barrel, holding his big inner tube. A dummy with a George Bush mask stood beside the clown, propped up by a broomstick.

T.J. Hawkins rolled out the big inner tube, and the bull lowered his head, shot forward and launched into the tube, sending it bounding down the center of the arena. The crowd cheered. Then the bull saw the George Bush dummy. He tore into it, sending the rubber mask flying halfway across the sand as he turned toward the fence, sending cowboys scrambling up the fence rails, hooking one with his horn and tossing him off the fence.


SEE ALSO: Missouri rodeo stunt draws fire: ‘We’re going to stomp Obama now’


• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.

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