‘Squid Game’ Costumes Banned In Several Elementary Schools
Squid Game has quickly become one of Netflix’s most popular titles in history, with the streamer reporting 111 million viewers last week. It’s no surprise that the survival drama is dominating this year’s Halloween costume trends — nearly every character is dressed the same, donning candy-colored jumpsuits in either green or red. While this isn’t problematic for groups of adults looking for a simple, relevant group costume, elementary schools across the country — including the Fayetteville-Manlius School District near Syracuse, New York — are raising concerns over the impact the show is having on young children.
“Staff members have recently noted that some students at recess have been mimicking games from Squid Game...” said Superintendent Dr. Craig Tice in a statement. “Because of this activity, our principals wanted to make sure our families are aware that it would be inappropriate for any student to wear to school a Halloween costume from this show because of the potential violent messages aligned with the costume.”
Other school districts have also issued similar warnings to parents of elementary school-aged children. Bay District Schools, headquartered in Panama City, Florida, released a statement on October 13 (via Collider) that explained how students were reenacting the games depicted in Squid Game, such as Red Light/Green Light. Ironically, the challenges the contestants undergo in Squid Game are actual children’s games that were played long before the show aired on Netflix in mid-September. But the real problem, according to Bay District Schools’ statement, is that kids are “trying to actually hurt each other in the name of this ‘game.’”
In response to these concerns from school districts, Netflix has released a statement of its own. “Squid Game is rated TV-MA and intended for mature audiences,” a Netflix spokesperson told Deadline. “We offer parents a wide variety of parental controls to make the appropriate choices for their families.”
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