This White Fraternity Student’s Bill Cosby Costume Is Absolutely Not Okay

Everyone loves a good pop culture Halloween costume: Khaleesi from Game of Thrones, Harley Quinn from Suicide Squad, or even Christina Aguilera in her "Dirrrty" phase. But there are a few types of costumes that should never, ever be considered. A white person dressing up as a Black celebrity is absolutely one of them. Brock Denton, a sophomore at the University of Central Arkansas dressed up as Bill Cosby, blackface and all, as campus newspaper The Echo reports. The getup has been deemed the year's most offensive costume by the The Washington Post. Denton shared a picture of himself on Instagram, alongside two of his white Sigma Tau Gamma brothers, from a party at their frat house on Friday, October 28. He appears with his entire face painted black and sports a colorful Cosby Show-inspired sweater. The post, which has since been deleted but can be seen in screenshots on social media, is accompanied by the caption, "It was a bold night."

This photo is many things; "bold" is not one of them (let's try idiotic and offensive, for starters). According to the school's Twitter feed, Denton is being investigated, and the fraternity itself has been suspended. UCA President Tom Courtway apologized for the student's deplorable behavior.

Not only did Denton don blackface, he also dressed up as an accused rapist. It's hard to imagine a worse decision. In 2016, one would hope that our country's young people would be able to tell right from wrong, funny from offensive, and literally black from white. But alas, here we are. Denton has deleted his Twitter and Instagram accounts, but his Facebook is still live and flooding with comments about his costume choice. According to The Echo, Denton apologized on Instagram in a now-deleted post. He said he is now receiving death threats and that he has been called "a monster, a rapist, and a supremacist," but that the real Brock Denton is none of these things. He also claims that he has been "writing a book over the last two years about what it means to be a good person." Actions speak louder than words, buddy.