Members of staff on a cruise in Australia dressed up in white outfits and pointed hoods, similar to those worn by the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), leaving passengers shocked.
Eight members of the housekeeping staff on the Pacific Explorer heading to Hobart from Melbourne in December 2024 dressed in all-white costumes and pointed hoods with eye-holes cut out in them for a Christmas-themed event, according to news reports.
However, according to the cruise organisers, P&O Cruises Australia, the staff were not dressed to resemble the Ku Klux Klan. Instead, they were meant to be dressed as “snow cones” for a Christmas party on the cruise.
“We regret if a recent incident on a Pacific Explorer cruise offended any guests,” a spokesperson told The Independent.
“Several crew members dressed up as snow cones for a Christmas family event, not understanding how their costumes could be misconstrued.
“They were only in public view for a short time before management acted quickly and had them remove the costumes.”
The Ku Klux Klan is a white supremacist group that was created in the aftermath of the American Civil War. Members of the KKK discriminated against Black communities, using violent methods like lynching and flogging to terrorise the neighbourhoods in which they were active. Klan members also burned crosses on hillsides to intimidate Black Americans and other marginalised groups.
Members of the KKK usually wore hooded robes to hide their identities and avoid prosecution.
Video and photos of the staff have been doing the rounds on social media, in what one passenger said made her feel “sick”.
“Everyone just stopped and looked,” one passenger, requesting anonymity, told 7News. “My husband said, ‘Grab the camera because no one will believe us.’”
Lynne Scrivens, P&O Australia communications director, said the staff tried to improvise a costume from what they had and did not intend for the confusion.
“No one can seriously think that was their intention,” she told Sydney radio station 2GB.
“They were taking part in a Christmas family fun day on the ship as part of our Christmas crew. It was a tug-of-war event where the crew dress up, and our housekeeping crew decided to dress up as snow cones.”
“They live and work on the cruise ship, and they have to make do with what they’ve got. They are wearing their cleaning uniforms, and they’ve got something on their head that looks like an upside down snow cone. They had no idea, they were horrified when management said to them, please take those outfits off.
“Our crew are from different cultures, all over the world. They’re young. And they had just never heard of that organisation or what their outfits could symbolise,” she said.
She added that the cruise saw 2,000 passengers on board for the Christmas party, but received no complaints at the time.
Speaking to The DailyMail Australia, a passenger identified only as Terri said: “A lady sitting in front of me, her jaw dropped she was like ‘What the h***,’ everyone was like OMG they were calling it the ‘KKK cruise.’”
