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‘Inappropriate’ hung monkey costume baffles local library

A library in the UK has apologised for a bizarre monkey costume worn by a performer to encourage children to take up reading.

The costume certainly has our heads scratching. The rather camp rainbow outfit featured a large fake butt and fake penis attached to it.

How does this encourage kids to take up reading? Because if they don’t read at least five books a week, the monkey will…?

Rainbow Monkey
Image: Twitter

Yeah, we’d rather not think about it. But let’s continue, shall we?

The costume was worn by an actor from South London troupe, Madinga Arts, who appeared at the reading event at Redbridge Central Library.

Several shocked parents were quick to express their disapproval.

“This is unbelievable,” one parent apparently said. “Have we completely lost our moral compass as a society?”, with another adding “someone needs to lose their job over this.”

Come to think of it, this weirdly resembles a scene in the British TV show People Just Do Nothing, where a stripper is invited to entertain at a 5-year-old’s birthday party, equipped with penis toys. Umm… okay, but this is real life!

So who’s behind this sexy mess?

According to Redbridge Council, the event was organised by local charity, Vision RCL and are thus responsible.

It’s quite a vision, if you ask us! Yikes!

Here’s what the council had to say:

“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 seems like it’s apologies all around, as since then, the costume provider, arts troupe and library have all made public apologies.

Meanwhile, we just really feel like reading a book or two today. Dunno why…