Martha Stewart responds to backlash over ‘hungry’ homeless Halloween costume

Martha Stewart on Sunday responded to backlash about her Halloween costume, saying she was “distressed” to learn that her outfit, which depicted a “hungry” homeless person, had caused offense. Stewart, who built a lifestyle empire around cooking and home entertainment, shared a photo of herself in tattered clothing, holding a clipboard that read, “I AM HUNGRY HELP ME!!” She posed with a tired expression and makeup meant to look like dirt on her face. The photo was the third slide in an Instagram carousel promoting her candle collection on QVC. “My QVC candles are perfect for Halloween!!!” she wrote in the caption. The post was removed shortly afterward, but the costume and backlash continued to circulate elsewhere online. Many interpreted the costume as mocking the poor, and some called it “out of touch” and “dystopian.” “I am distressed that my Halloween costume yesterday, which was intended to bring more awareness to the very serious subject of homelessness, has offended people, which was never my intention,” Stewart said Sunday in a statement to NBC News. She added that homelessness “continues to remain one of America’s greatest challenges and ongoing crises, something that I care deeply about and I have spent a significant amount of time and effort supporting charities that combat this ongoing social epidemic.” “I am committed to continuing to make a difference,” she said. Stewart wasn’t the only public figure to draw criticism over a Halloween costume. Content creator McCall DaPron, who is slated to star in the upcoming Orange County spinoff of “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,” faced similar backlash over the weekend for her family’s costumes. In a since-deleted Instagram post, DaPron wore an all-pink blazer and skirt with a matching pillbox hat, the outfit that Jackie Kennedy wore the day her husband, President John F. Kennedy, was assassinated. DaPron held a bouquet of red roses as she posed beside her husband, Kirk DaPron, who dressed as John F. Kennedy. Two of their children were dressed as Caroline Kennedy and John F. Kennedy Jr., and two others as Secret Service agents. “Happy Halloween 🩷The Kennedy’s,” DaPron wrote in the caption before removing the post. Commenters on one Reddit discussion thread called the costume “gross” and “disrespectful.” “I’ve seen this costume a few times. Jackie O was a fashion icon and this is her most recognizable outfit,” one user wrote in the thread. “It’s pretty macabre. Including the children is really f-----g weird.” Representatives for DaPron did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The reaction recalls the outrage that actor and model Julia Fox sparked last year when she dressed as Jackie Kennedy in the bloodstained suit. Fox defended her decision, writing in an Instagram post that she wore the outfit “not as a costume, but as a statement. When her husband was assassinated, she refused to change out of her bloodstained clothes.”