The rodeo who wore a President Obama mask and made a presentation that many deem to be disrespectful at the Missouri State Fair over the weekend has been permanently banned from the fair.
In a statement released to the media Monday afternoon, the commission apologized again for the rodeo clown’s actions and said they were inappropriate and not keeping with the fair’s standards.
The commission unanimously voted to ratify a decision by Missouri State Fair Director Mark Wolfe to ban the rodeo clown who wore the mask. The clown was not identified.
Albert S. Watkins, attorney for Mark Ficken, the rodeo announcer at the Missouri State Fair, said the clown went off script and was the one who made the controversial comments about the president.
A witness told KSDK.com that the announcer “whipped the audience into a lather” by repeatedly asking attendees if they wanted to see “Obama run down by a bull.”
The president of the Missouri Rodeo Cowboy Association says he didn’t know that a clown at the Missouri State Fair rodeo planned an act that would be deemed disrespectful to the president.
The clown wearing a President Barack Obama mask appeared at the rodeo Saturday in Sedalia. Media reports said the announcer asked spectators if they wanted to see “Obama Run down by a bull,” and many fans responded enthusiastically.
Ficken’s attorney Albert S. Watkins, said Monday that the clown was acting unscripted and it was the clown, wearing a microphone, who made comments riling up the crowd.
Watkins says Ficken’s only comment was to say, “Watch out for that bull Obama!”
Information from The Associated Press and KSDK.com contributed to this report.