Malden City Council Hit By Another Costume Controversy

MALDEN, MA — Ward 8 City Councillor Jadeane Sica came under fire for what advocacy groups called a "racist" Halloween costume that referenced the Robert Kraft prostitution case, the second time in a week an elected official has faced backlash over a previous year's attire.

A photo of the costume shows Sica wearing a bamboo rice hat and an Orchids of Asia T-shirt, with her husband apparently dressed as Kraft in a Patriots hoodie and hat and holding a Super Bowl trophy.

Kraft was among 25 men charged with misdemeanor offenses related to prostitution following a January 2019 sting at the Orchids of Asia massage parlor in Florida. The charges were ultimately dropped following a court ruling that threw out video surveillance allegedly showing the Patriots' owner paying for sex acts.

In a statement Wednesday, Sica said she wore the costume two years ago, when the sting was a current news story.

"Since that time, many, myself included, have become much more aware of the fact that the women involved in cases like these are all too often vulnerable members of the Asian community who are victims of exploitation," Sica wrote in a statement on Facebook.

Sica was responding to criticism from a coalition of advocacy groups, including the Greater Malden Asian American Community Coalition and the Mystic Valley NAACP, who condemned the costume for "the use of yellowface, the hypersexualization of Asian women and the mockery of the challenging situation faced by the Asian women workers" at the massage parlor.

"Our culture, our people, and our pain are NOT a costume," a statement from the coalition read in part. "Our youth, especially our young women, should not see themselves represented and mocked in this way by an elected official."

Sica said she "can and will do better" after reflecting on the unintended harm the costume may have caused.

"Those that know me know that I have love in my heart for people from all backgrounds, races, and religions," she wrote. "I also recognize that bad intent isn't a necessary ingredient to actions that are hurtful to others."

Last week, newly elected at-large city councillor Karen Colón Hayes apologized for a 2012 Halloween costume that she said "promoted an inaccurate, stereotypical portrayal of an Indigenous person."

"Dressing up as another culture was racist," Hayes wrote. "It does not matter what my intentions were; there is no excuse for reinforcing racist stereotypes."