Nottingham student who went as Jeffrey Dahmer for Halloween says ‘people can’t take a joke’

People have accused him of ‘idolising’ serial killers


A first year Nottingham Trent University student has been criticised after appearing to dress up as serial killer and cannibal Jeffrey Dahmer for Halloween.

The university student, studying business management and accounting and finance, posted a video to his TikTok account on Tuesday evening, showing him in an outfit similar to that worn by Dahmer with the caption “POV: You go as Evan Peters to Halloween”.

In the video, the NTU student is seen wearing a wig and a distinctive style of glasses worn by Dahmer whilst dancing in a similar manner to the way the notorious murderer did.

In response to the criticism about his costume, the student said: “people these days can’t have a laugh and a joke.”

The TikTok includes a snippet of the student wearing the outfit in a nightclub in which he appears to say to someone who is looking at his costume in horror: “I’m not Jeffrey Dahmer”, before posing with another individual.

The student specifically asked for the TikTok to be linked, which you can view here:

The video has since amassed over one million views, with users in the comments condemning his outfit choice, saying: “Just use your brain man, Jeffrey brutally killed 17 people and you’re idolizing him” and “can we discuss how bad it is to dress up as a serial killer?”

The NTU student replied some of these comments, saying: “Halloween costumes are supposed to be scary, no?”.

Jeffrey Dahmer has been discussed in the media a lot over the past month following the release of the Netflix series about his crimes that starred Evan Peters.

Speaking to the Tab Nottingham, the Nottingham Trent student said: “If people get offended by the costume then I do apologise, but I’ve been out four times this weekend dressed in it and no one has said anything.

“To me, it just seems like people these days can’t have a laugh and a joke. By me dressing up as Dahmer do you believe I am encouraging a racist serial killer? No. The same way people dressing up as killer clowns are not encouraging John Wayne Gacy and dressing up in prisoner outfits don’t encourage crime.

“At the end of the day if you find it offensive personally then you’ve seen the costume the wrong way and that is not how I see it. The Netflix series has been number one for weeks and weeks so of course, people are going to recognise me as it’s a big topic right now.

“Little effort was gone into the costume as I only spent about £20 and it was very last minute. But why don’t you start paying attention to the comments which are ‘he’s won Halloween, ‘I’m screaming’ and ‘wanna partie hardie’?”

This comes after Nottingham’s night club event Crisis apologised for their serial killer-themed “All-frighter” Halloween event after they received backlash for the proposed theme, with advertisements including images of serial killers such as Jeffrey Dahmer.

Featured image via @ineedafagjezza on TikTok.

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