Mum defends outfit choice for daughter
A mum who blacked up her daughter for Halloween has refused to apologise.
Nursery nurse Claire Flynn dressed Sienna, three, up as a “lookie lookie” man – a nickname for beach traders in foreign holiday resorts.
Claire has insisted she is not a racist and is adamant the costume was not intended to be offensive. The 26-year-old says anyone who thinks so needs to “get a grip”.
Claire posted a picture of Sienna coated head-to-toe in black facepaint on her Facebook page last week.
She captioned it: “Happy Halloween from Benidorm’s finest..lookie lookie.”
Claire, from Motherwell, said: “I’m not going to apologise for this or delete my post.
“If people want to be all PC about it they need to take a look at themselves. It’s really not an issue.
“We were in Magaluf on holiday in September and Sienna got a toy monkey from the lookie lookie men. She loved them and wanted to go back to see them every day.
“That’s when I had the idea. I’m just a creative person and that’s what Halloween is all about. It’s a kid in a costume wearing facepaint. People need to get a grip.
“I’m not going to bow down to anyone who has an issue with this. I’m not a racist.
“People dress up as Jimmy Savile and no one calls them a paedophile and the people who dress up as Hitler don’t get called supporters of Nazi propaganda either.”
Claire, who works at Happy Feet Nursery in Larkhall, dressed Sienna up in the staff room at work and says none of her colleagues had an issue with the outfit.
She said: “My boss at work is absolutely fine about it. She thinks the complaints are ridiculous. I’ve worked as a nursery nurse for 10 years, with people of all different races and cultures, so I don’t have to defend myself.
“Parents from the nursery have been sharing it online too and everyone says it’s brilliant.”