American Horror Story: Freak Show used a similar tactic when it introduced its clown, also incurring the wrath of professional clowns, who came out at the time and also said similar things about not enjoying how pop culture clowns affect the sentiments people have toward real-life clowns.
All in all, no one seems to be clowning around about the issue, but people do seem to have varying opinions on the clown issue and how pop culture clowns affect the average consumer.
IT hasn’t been the first time in recent memory that clowns were used to inspire fear.
Andres Muschietti also mentioned that clowns can vary and that it all has to do with “makeup,” “performance” and “attitude,” which is a bit of an additional take.