Photo: Vincent Innocente

There’s nothing like a grown-up dressed in a distinctly not-cute clown costume stalking around in the dark to bring out a borough’s true colors. The Staten Island Advance reports multiple sightings of the terrifying individual beginning two weeks ago — and the people are not having it. “He was just kinda standing there waving like he is in the picture,” said Vincent Innocente, who took the above shot last night. “I just got freaked out coming home from the studio in Tottenville #weirdo #retards #detourillnevertake #pennywise #it #bozo #doinktheclown,” he wrote on Instagram.

Update: The sightings appear to be tied to a film production company. See below for details.



Other witnesses were even more Staten Island: “Ok so I’m a little freaked out right now. I was driving home from Buffalo Wild Wings and saw this waving at me. #wtf … is this real life? #Clown #scary #StatenIsland #BuffaloWilfWings #balloon #freakedout #creepy #life #alone #unreal #somepeople #weird #idk,” reported leavisisland.

“I’m driving home from the gym and this is what I see! People are fucking crazy yo! Guess who ain’t sleeping tonight,” added bobbypriv.

Seriously, bro.

@Veeets bro I did a double take, my heart stopped — Robert Privitera (@bobbypriv) March 20, 2014

#FUCKDAT

The fact that there's some douche lord dressing as a clown and roaming around Staten Island has me never wanting to leave my house. #FUCKDAT — Grace Slick (@LisaCattt) March 24, 2014

But no one can top comedian Vic Dibitetto, who caught the clown in broad daylight.

“You never believe what I just saw back there — had to make a U-turn,” he said in a video posted to Facebook. “You gotta see this. This is unebeliveable the fuckin’ morons you see in this city. There he is. There he is. Look at this fuckin’ jerkoff!”

“I’m gonna turn around and fuckin’ run him over.”

Update, March 25, 11 a.m.: Like everything else on the internet, this all appears to be a hoax meant to generate attention for a business. (Jimmy Kimmel is not involved, as far as we know.)

The New York Post reports “that the Staten Island residents who sparked the creepy viral phenomenon are all tied to the same boro-based horror movie production company.”

“Three of the men — Vincent Innocente, Robert Privitera and Michael Leavy — are friends with each other on Facebook; the trio, along with comedian Vic Dibitetto, is linked with Fuzz on the Lens Productions,” the Staten Island Advance reports.



Leavy denied the hoax, but said of the Facebook connection, “It’s a small island and we’ve been trying to get as many people associated with Fuzz on the Lens as possible.” No word yet on what exactly they’re selling.



The stunt is not even an original one: An aspiring filmmaker in the UK did the same creepy clown thing last year.

