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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
Lifestyle
Laura Hampson

eBay bans sales of Jeffrey Dahmer costumes ahead of Halloween

Netflix © 2022

If you were hoping to buy a Jeffrey Dahmer Halloween costume off eBay this year, you might want to think again.

The retail giant has banned costumes depicting the serial killer as it violates the site’s policy.

A spokesperson for the site said that items depicting Dahmer have been taken down after moderators combed the site.

eBay saw a surge in costumes being sold for people to dress as Dahmer for Halloween after Ryan Murphy’s Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story was released on Netflix in September.

According to TMZ, eBay’s policy bans “items closely associated with or that benefit violent felons, their acts, or crime scenes within the past 100 years”.

As Dahmer’s crimes happened within the last century, this policy extends to depictions of him.

The items have been removed to prevent the sales from benefitting the estate of the serial killer who died in prison in 1994.

The series has seen criticism from family of Dahmer’s victims who said the show is “retraumatising” families.

Tatiana Banks, who is the daughter of Errol Lindsey, a 19-year-old who was killed by Dahmer in 1991, said that the show is giving her nightmares.

Lindsey’s partner was pregnant with Banks at the time of his death.

“Honestly ever since that show’s been on I haven’t been able to sleep,” Banks told Insider.

“I see Jeffrey Dahmer in my sleep,” she said, adding that the show is “heartbreaking”.

Banks’ aunt,  Rita Isbell, the sister of Lindsey, gave a victim impact statement during the sentencing hearing for Dahmer which was recreated in the show.

“I feel like they should have reached out because it’s people who are actually still grieving from that situation,” Banks said. “That chapter of my life was closed and they reopened it, basically.”

Dahmer was found guilty of murdering and dismembering 17 men and boys between 1978 and 1991.

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