A rodeo clown performing at the Missouri State Fair decided to trade his usual clown makeup for a mask of President Barack Obama as other rodeo clowns announced on the loudspeaker that they were going to "stomp Obama," according to CNN.
Prior to the bull riding completion the clown came out and stood still. Voices on the loudspeaker egged the crowd on to cheer for the clown to get hit by a bull, CNN reports.
"As soon as this bull comes out, Obama, don't you move," a man said over the loudspeaker. "He's going to getcha, getcha, getcha!"
"Hey, I know I'm a clown," a second voice over the loudspeaker said. "He's just running around acting like one. Doesn't know he is one."
Perry Beam was attending the rodeo with his wife and an exchange student from Taiwan.
"It wasn't clean; it wasn't fun," Beam told CNN. "It was awful. It was sickening. It was racist."
Politicians on both sides of the aisle were quick to denounce the performance. Republican Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder took to his Twitter account to demand that people be held responsible, according to the Associated Press.
"I condemn the actions disrespectful to POTUS (President of the United States) the other night," Kinder said. "We are better than this."
Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., made a statement about how the fair was funded by public dollars so it shouldn't be teaching children hateful lessons toward public officials, according to CNN.
"The State Fair is funded by taxpayer dollars, and is supposed to be a place where we can all bring our families and celebrate the state that we love," McCaskill said. "But the young Missourians who witnessed this stunt learned exactly the wrong lesson about political discourse, that somehow it's ever acceptable to, in a public event, disrespect, taunt, and joke about harming the President of our great nation."
The organizers of the fair as well as the Missouri Rodeo Cowboy Association also criticized the act.
"The sport of rodeo is not meant to be a political platform," a statement on the Missouri Rodeo Cowboy Association's website read. "All members of the Missouri Rodeo Cowboy Association are very proud of our country and our president."
Beam explained to the Associated Press that he didn't know how to explain the incident to Jameson Hsieh, the student from Taiwan.
"He didn't say anything. We rode all the way home in silence," Beam said. "We were just ashamed, and he didn't ask any more questions. I think he had seen enough. It is just disgusting."
