Parents in East London, England were up in arms when an actor wearing a monkey costume—complete with a fake penis—showed up at the local library as part of a program meant to encourage children to read.
The Summer Reading Challenge is a popular education contest held by libraries in the UK.
This year's theme for the Goodmayes Library in Redbridge was "wild world heroes" and the actors who showed up to launch the contest included someone dressed as a strawberry, another as a frog and a monkey.
The costume for that last one...
That one actor, in particular, more than rose to the occasion to fit the "wild" descriptor.
Perhaps not in the best way...
As seen in a video circulating on the internet, the actor in question wore a rainbow monkey costume with a prominent bare backside and his nearly impossible to ignore manhood flopping around.
People were not happy with the unnecessary appendage attached to the simian costume making an appearance at an event geared towards children.
The controversy prompted a formal apology from the Redbridge Libraries Twitter account.
"During an event put on at the library today there was a performance by a Carnival Arts Company."
"Unfortunately one of the animal costumes was inappropriate which we were not aware of at the time of booking. We deeply apologise for the offence caused. This is being looked into."
They added a "further statement" would be made.
"This event was arranged by Vision and not Redbridge Council."
"Upon receiving complaints passed on by the Leader and Deputy Leader, we ceased the performance and are truly apologetic for the distress caused to residents. This will never happen again."
Although, as they say, the internet is forever.
Earlier social media posts seemed to indicate the Redbridge Libraries were aware and approved of the costume flaunting its assets.
The Redbridge council issued a statement to the Evening Standard, saying:
"We are utterly appalled by the unacceptable event at Redbridge Libraries on Saturday organised by our independent leisure contractor, Vision."
"The contractor had commissioned characters to support the start of the Summer Reading Challenge, but the costume in question was wholly inappropriate for the intended audience"
"A full and thorough investigation into how this incident happened has been launched and stringent action will be taken. We sincerely apologise for the offence and distress this has caused."
It remains unclear how the "Rainbow Dildo Butt Monkey" joined the roster of characters to launch the Summer Reading Challenge.
The literary competition designed to encourage summer reading among primary school children started in 1999.
The young participants are given stickers as they finish each book out of the required six to read on the Summer Reading Challenge sheet and are awarded medals and certificates based on that year's theme.
But to ensure there's no more monkey business in the future, Redbridge Council leader Jas Athwal said all upcoming performances—which were organised by a partner charity—were canceled.
The fact that all attention for the wholesome event was hijacked by the whacky primate was just plain bananas.
But, here we are.
@lpeterp/Bluesky
@FPWellman/X
@bobsbeatgmail.com5/Threads
