By Jackie Salo - New York Post




Costume and party supplies store Party City ordered one of its franchises to pull a kids’ Confederate soldier costume from its shelves after facing backlash about the outfit being racist.

Caroline Brasler, who is the adoptive mother to two young black daughters, said she came across the Civil War costumes emblazoned with the Confederate flag while shopping Sunday at the location in Crossroads, Virginia, news station WUSA reported.

“The Confederate flag to me is a symbol of racism. To have that out there for a child to wear on Halloween sends so many horrible messages,” she told the outlet.

One of the costumes was labeled “Confederate Officer” and came with a Confederate flag on the hat, while the other was supposed to be Confederate General Robert E. Lee, the outlet reported.

Brasler said that after seeing the costumes there, she decided to take her daughters elsewhere to buy their Halloween gear.

“We discuss race, we respect race. And to see something like that just flies in the face of everything I try to teach them to be proud young women,” Brasler told the outlet.

Party City said the costumes had been on sale at the franchise location but were not available at any corporate-owned stores.

“At Party City, we do not tolerate racism or hatred of any kind, and we stand together in solidarity with our diverse colleagues, customers, and communities,” the statement said.

“As the leader in Halloween with more than 60 million customers per year, Party City supplies a broad assortment of costumes, none of which are meant to be offensive in any way.”

The company added that they have asked the branch and other partners to remove the offending costumes, WUSA reported.

“We have reached out to our franchisees and other partners to remove it from all retail locations ASAP,” the company said. “We know that as a company, we can and must do better.”