P&O Cruises Australia Apologizes Over KKK Costume Mix-Up
This is one of those stories where you think to yourself, “What were they thinking?” after the cleaning crew on P&O Cruises Australia’s Pacific Explorer, appeared to be dressed in Ku Klux Klan (KKK) costumes during a Christmas-themed onboard parade in December 2024. While apparently, this was a genuine mistake, due to a shortage of costumes, a video of the parade went viral, leading to the cruise line apologizing to its guests and the general public.
P&O Cruises Australia apologizes for mix up with costumes
It happened on P&O Cruises Australia’s Pacific Explorer when a Christmas-themed parade was held on the deck. In what turned out to be a viral video, the cleaning crew can be seen parading on the deck in what looked like Ku Klux Klan (KKK) costumes.
The crew was wearing white costumes with a pointed white hood, resembling those worn by the KKK.
According to USA Today, this disturbing incident occurred during a sailing of the Pacific Explorer from Melbourne to Tasmania that departed on December 19.
Video shows the cleaning crew wearing what looks like KKK costumes
In a video shared on X/formerly Twitter, the caption reads:
Cruise line staff dresses up for a Christmas costume party, cruise line insists they were dressed up as “upside-down snow cones.”
Travelers on a P&O Cruises Australia ship were horrified to see staff walking around with white hoods on.
Communications director Lynne Scrivens now claims the staff was simply dressing up and didn’t have a lot of materials for “fancy dress.”
They’ve got to make do with what they’ve got. And they were wearing their cleaning uniforms, and they’ve put something on their head that looks like a snow cone – an upside-down snow cone.
NEW: Cruise line staff dresses up for a Christmas costume party, cruise line insists they were dressed up as “upside-down snow cones.”
Travelers on a P&O Cruises Australia ship were horrified to see staff walking around with white hoods on.
Communications director Lynne… pic.twitter.com/Kc9Oqc6oFE
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) January 22, 2025
Meanwhile, the video itself, captured by guests on the cruise, shows a line of crew members dressed in all-white costumes, complete with gloves and pointed hoods, which were eerily similar to those worn by the far-right supremacist hate group, the Ku KIux Klan, while following Santa Claus on an outside deck.
Meanwhile, the cruise line claimed that its crew members were supposed to be snow cones and management had to act quickly to have those costumes removed.
A spokesperson for P&O Cruises sent an emailed statement to USA Today, reading:
P&O Cruises Australia acknowledges an incident of inappropriate dress onboard Pacific Explorer has caused distress and wish to be clear this was not the intention of crew.
They were only in public view for a short time before management acted quickly and had them remove the costumes.
The crew members were horrified and extremely apologetic when they learned of the distress their outfits could cause. We sincerely apologize for any offense this caused passengers and the broader community.
Meanwhile, among the comments to the video, posted on January 22, one person commented, writing, “This is something out of Borat. LOL.”
Another wrote, “I’m really trying to see an upside-down snow cone here but I’m not seeing it.
However, another follower did have a point, commenting:
The vast majority of cruise line staff are 3rd world foreigners, I wouldn’t expect them to know 19th and 20th century American history.
Read other articles relating to Australia here.