The reappearance of Pennywise isn't just terrifying moviegoers. He's also being blamed for scaring off business for working clowns, though producers of the new It movie (in theaters Sept. 8) argue that the villain is just another in the history of the horror genre.

It producer David Katzenberg has heard that real clowns were "furious" but finds the hubbub to be "somewhat absurd," he told USA TODAY on Tuesday.

"It’s not as if a group of NHL goalies got up and protested Jason or a group of toy manufacturers protested Chucky," added producer Seth Grahame-Smith, referring to the antagonists from the Friday the 13th and Child's Play slasher movies. "There’s a long tradition in horror of these seemingly harmless things being perverted for that very reason, because they are seemingly harmless."

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The new adaptation of the classic Stephen King novel featuring the evil dancing clown Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård) has the red-nosed crew feeling the pinch. Also not helping matters: real-life "scary clown" sightings last fall and the return of freaky Twisty the clown on the new season of FX's American Horror Story.

In its online media kit, the World Clown Association takes a stand on differentiating "scary clowns" from those offering comic relief and entertainment for families.

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"Just as a haunted house event may have a 'doctor' wearing surgical gear, carrying a bloody chainsaw, people need to understand that this character is NOT a real doctor," the site says. "He is a person portraying an evil character in order to scare people. In the same way, people dressed as horror clowns are not 'real clowns.' They are taking something innocent and wholesome and perverting it to create fear in their audience."

In April, King tweeted that real clowns were mad at him. "Sorry, most are great. BUT ... kids have always been scared of clowns," he wrote. "Don't kill the messengers for the message."

WCA president Pam Moody was one of those irked at King, specifically in regard to his 1986 novel It, in which Pennywise haunts a cast of characters in Derry, Maine, as children and decades later as adults. "That introduced the concept of this character," Moody told The Hollywood Reporter. "It's a science-fiction character. It's not a clown and has nothing to do with pro clowning."