The Olympic gold medalist has a Halloween warning for fans of Netflix's recently dropped scripted true-crime series.
Before anyone thinks of picking up an orange jumpsuit for Halloween, Simone Biles has a message of caution.
According to multiple outlets, Dahmer-related merchandise and costumes have hit sellers such as eBay with the fright-filled holiday in mind, thanks to the fervor following the release of Ryan Murphy's true-crime drama, Dahmer - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, on Netflix last month. The series starring Evan Peters and Niecy Nash debuted on Sept. 21, and inspired a wave of renewed public interest in the story of the serial killer.
According to the streaming platform, the scripted true-crime series is now one of Netflix’s most successful series of all time, logging in nearly 300 million hours -- 299.8 million to be exact -- in its second week online, making it the second most-watched English-language series in a week behind Stranger Things 4.
Additionally, the series accumulated 496 million hours viewed in just 12 days, with Netflix estimating that at least 56 million households have streamed the series.
With that in mind, Biles took to Twitter on Tuesday to note her disapproval with anyone thinking of going as far as dressing up as the real-life serial killer this Halloween. "Im just gon go head and say it, put the jeffrey dahmer costumes back in the closet," she wrote. "We ain't having it!!!!!!"
eBay seemed to get the message -- on Wednesday, the site reportedly banned the sale of Dahmer-inspired costumes due to breach of its policy on violence and violent criminals.
As reported by Buzzfeed, "A spokesperson confirmed that the selling platform was actively removing these listings and that they were 'prohibited,' although some listings are still active at the time of publication...The company policy states that sellers are banned from listing items that 'promote or glorify violence' or are associated with violent individuals, the acts for which they gained notoriety, or crime scenes from the past 100 years."
While both Peters and Nash have garnered praise for their layered performances in Dahmer, Murphy’s dramatization of events has also drawn backlash from relatives of the victims, who say that they’ve been retraumatized by what’s been recreated on screen.
Most notably, relatives of 19-year-old victim Errol Lindsey, including his sister Rita Isbell, and a cousin named Eric, who was later identified as Eric Perry by The Wrap, have responded negatively to the true-cime scripted drama and the ways it has forced them to relive and be retraumatized by such a tragic experience.
Dahmer raped, murdered and dismembered at least 17 men and boys in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, between 1978 and 1991, shocking the world with the extent of his crimes, including cannibalism and necrophilia. Most of his victims were gay and people of color.
In an essay for Insider, Isbell, whose emotional victim impact statement was recreated word-for-word onscreen by DaShawn Barnes, wrote that what she saw of the series “bothered me, especially when I saw myself – when I saw my name come across the screen and this lady saying verbatim exactly what I said.”
However, the attention surrounding Dahmer is not expected to subside anytime soon, with Conversations With a Killer: The Jeffrey Dahmer Tapes set to debut on Friday. The three-part documentary from director Joe Berlinger features previously unheard audio interviews with the killer and his lawyer.
“He’s a horrible, evil person clearly,” Berlinger told ET, while acknowledging just how popular Dahmer has become over 30 years after his arrest.
“We have to remember that Netflix is serving a global audience and that has changed the game for viewing numbers and, in particular, changed the game for documentaries,” he said. “And so, you know, there is a fascination with these things because we all wonder why people go off the deep end.” And in the case of Dahmer, “how is that he was able to do these things is endlessly fascinating.”
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