Stephen King has angered the clowns. And he knows it.

In 1986, the author of It introduced the world to Pennywise, a sewer-dwelling demon that could shape-shift into a truly heinous clown before murdering its Bozo-phobic victims. The novel was adapted into an even more terrifying miniseries in 1990, and now, because 2017 is pure dumpster fire, the traumatizing story is hitting the silver screen.

If you thought your disdain for red nose-laced horror was strong, though, consider the professional clown. With the reboot hitting theaters in September, they are... displeased.

“It’s gonna be bad for clowns,” Guilford Adams, a 42-year-old clown, told MEL Magazine after seeing the trailer for “It.” (According to The Independent, it was streamed 197 million times globally in just 24 hours. So, wow, we’re a masochistic species.)

“It’s ruining our business,” added 33-year-old Nick Kane, incapable of avoiding that pun just like the rest of us.

Well, the author who started it all finally acknowledged the wrath of clowns on Monday. “The clowns are pissed at me,” he tweeted, before apologizing to the good clowns. Sort of.

The clowns are pissed at me. Sorry, most are great. BUT...kids have always been scared of clowns. Don't kill the messengers for the message. — Stephen King (@StephenKing) April 10, 2017

”Most [clowns] are great,” he added. “BUT... kids have always been scared of clowns.” #SorryNotSorry.

But when you’re right, you’re right, Stephen. Long before Pennywise came along, people were hating on clowns. For good reason.

In 2016, when all those creepy adults were prancing around North Carolina with the intent of scaring the s**t out of everyone, King described the general fear of clowns that inspired his novel to the Bangor News in Maine:

I chose Pennywise the Clown as the face which the monster originally shows the kiddies because kids love clowns, but they also fear them; clowns with their white faces and red lips are so different and so grotesque compared to ‘normal’ people. Take a little kid to the circus and show him a clown, he’s more apt to scream with fear than laugh.

To top it off, the Bangor News notes that sinister clown activity has been happening since at least the early 1980s, predating It. And now we’re crying.