Even then, IT was initially blamed for the suspicious sightings, with folks thinking that it was a low-key marketing ploy to put the film into the public consciousness.
While those accusations were eventually debunked, the professional clown industry still suffered a setback that it had already recovered from.
It’s certainly been a rough time for clowns to exist in popular culture, as it was only last year that there were random sightings of clowns freaking people out and beckoning them into the woods.