Friday, September 09, 2016

Clown couple say mysterious sightings have crippled business

In the past week, there have been at least six reported clown sightings between Greensboro, High Point, Winston-Salem and Rural Hall in North Carolina. Whether the reports are real have certainly concerned parents and puzzled law enforcement. It’s proving to be a serious situation for professional clowns. So much so, one clown couple has considered giving up the profession altogether. They say they don’t have many other options.

Joseph and Lisa Brown, better known as Jazz and Jojo, have made clowning a major part of their livelihood. “We want to make kids laugh and adults laugh and ease worries away for the day or the hour that we’re there or the two hours that we’re there,” said Lisa. She’s been a professional clown for 14 years. Joseph, a clown school graduate, is in his 25th year as a clown. “That shows you how much that I have put into it and have enjoyed the career that I’ve had being Jojo the clown,” said Joseph.



For the Forsyth County couple, it’s upsetting to hear about people impersonating clowns and scaring children. “I’m angry because what we’ve worked so hard for, they’re ruining, it’s sadness because I don’t understand why they would have to do it,” admitted Lisa. Now they say they’re scared to go out in public in costume. “What would we run into?” asked Joseph. “Would we be pulled over by the Sheriff or police? Would we be chased down by somebody?”

Birthday parties, nursing homes, restaurants, the couple used to have as many as 10 gigs per week. Since the clown sightings, that number has dropped to zero. “The phone’s not ringing and we have talked about seriously between the two of us well why don’t we just give it up,” admitted Joseph. A tough decision to consider knowing why they do it in the first place: the kids. “And just to see that smile on that face before we leave there,” added Joseph. Joseph and Lisa hope their profession, decades in the making, doesn’t have to end this way. “It hurts from the heart.”

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This clown thing is crazy. But not the way it keeps getting reported. As an anonymous expert, I predict that it is going to turn out to be a total hoax. I don't mean people doing a gag or PR for a movie or something like that. I mean a figment of the imagination of the kids.

Notice that all the reports are from pre-teens. And the story itself sounds like something out of a movie. Its the kind of thing that young kids would totally believe is true. So a couple of kids told an exaggerated story and some incredulous adults told some other incredulous adults and it just sort of "went viral."

Now lots and lots of kids have it in the back of their heads, especially when their parents "warn" them to be careful. So now maybe they are bored, or maybe they stayed out playing longer than they should and in order to avoid getting punished they tell the story of running away from a clown. And it just snowballs from there.

There are no psycho clowns, just kids with over-active imaginations. Here's an even crazier story about mass poisonings of school-girls in Afghanistan. All just hysterical kids acting out.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/9376348/Poisonings-at-Afghan-girls-schools-likely-mass-hysteria-not-Taliban-says-report.html