Trick or cheat? The college admissions scandal, which enveloped the University of Southern California (USC) and other major universities, now has a Halloween costume. American clothing retailer, Yandy.com, released a “college scandal costume” earlier this month which seems to take a dig at the Lori Loughlin case.
The costume, which retails for $69.95, includes an orange top featuring the text “Mom of the Year” which is crossed out with “INMATE” printed under it. There are also orange leggings featuring “Yandy University” printed across the back and what appears to be an inmate number on the leg.
“Oops, you can’t always trust those motherly instincts. Turns out fame and intelligence don’t go hand in hand!”, the description of the costume reads. “Can’t row your way out of this one!”
The last line of the description appears to reference Lori Loughlin’s case from the scandal, as she allegedly spent $500,000 to make it seem as if her daughters were on the rowing team to gain admission to USC.
Students on USC campus had a variety of reactions to this scandal costume.
Freshman Jennah Motani said that the costume sexualizes an “absolutely terrible” scandal.
“I feel like it’s [kind of] making a joke out of it. I think it’s Halloween so people can appreciate the joke, but I think there are definitely more appropriate costumes that people could be wearing.” said Motani.
Graduate student Devon Medina, who studies in the School of Social Work, said the costume “glorifies” the imprisonment of the women involved, and disregards the feelings of other mothers who are in prison and “are trying to be there for their kids”.
"They’re not ‘mom of the year’, and this shouldn’t be something that we’re talking about.” Medina shared.
Junior Rowan Born also said people have better options for a Halloween costume.
When asked about how she would react if she saw someone in this costume on campus, Born said, “I probably would find it pretty funny in the moment just because I’m at USC, honestly. I think doing this at USC is funny, I think if anybody else did it, it’d be kind of weird."
As for those directly involved in the scandal, senior Brandon Dillon didn’t particularly care if they took offense to the costume.
“The only people that I feel like might be offended by (the costume) are the people that are guilty, and I don’t know if they really have the right to be offended by that.” said Dillon.
Yandy.com was contacted for comment, but did not respond in time for publishing.