After a group of middle-aged moms were excited to attend Universal Studios’ Halloween Horror Nights (HHN) opening night for the general public, security stopped them from entering and informed them their matching T-shirts were “inappropriate.”
The group of women was dress-coded and given alternate plain T-shirts to wear at HHN.
One of the women, Suellen, a Generation X mom who goes by @suellenh73 on TikTok, took to the app to detail their experience being dress-coded by security at Universal Studios during its opening night for HHN.
“My friends and I made some T-shirts to wear to the event,” Suellen began her video. “We make T-shirts every year. We went through security, and I went through fine, and my two friends came behind me and [security] was like, ‘Oh, I’m so sorry, you can’t wear those shirts into the event. Do you have anything you can change into?’”
Suellen shared how she thought security was joking at first, but she soon realized they were serious. They offered Suellen’s group the opportunity to purchase new shirts or wear free plain gray shirts they would provide, and she and her friends opted for the free shirts.
Security confiscated their T-shirts and handed them a tag to hold onto so they could retrieve them at the end of the night.
When they got into the park, Suellen approached guest relations and asked if they thought the T-shirts she and her group made were inappropriate. Guest relations said there was no problem with the shirt and Suellen and her friends should be fine, further adding to their confusion.
Despite guest relations’ confirmation, security doubled-down on their decision to dress-code the moms.
In another video, Suellen revealed the infamous T-shirt that got her and her friends dress-coded.
At the end of the night, when Suellen and her friends returned to security to retrieve their T-shirts and speak with security, she claimed they were adamantly “doubling down,” insisting their shirts were inappropriate and that they were going to “die on this hill.”
“I’m telling you, we are three middle-aged moms; we were not there to cause any trouble,” Suellen argued. “We had nothing hanging out; it was just a little saying on our shirts.”
Suellen revealed the black T-shirts she and her friends designed to wear to the Halloween-themed event. The front of the shirt reads, “It’s spooky [expletive] season,” with the year 2024 in the upper right corner, and the back reads, “Move over, hot girl summer. It’s spooky [expletive] season. “
“I’d definitely love to know your opinion if you find this offensive or inappropriate,” Suellen said. “Now, keep in mind — Halloween Horror Nights is recommended for children 13 and over.”
Despite Suellen and her friends’ belief that the expletive word they chose to include on their shirts wasn’t a reason for concern and their position was reasonable, their shirts did technically violate HHN’s costume guidelines.
According to Universal Studios Hollywood and Universal CityWalk Hollywood’s Costume Guidelines For Halloween Horror Nights 2024, “Clothing that Universal determines is indecent, exposes excessive portions of the skin, or that Universal views as inappropriate for a family environment (including, without limitation, gory or gruesome clothing or accessories) is prohibited.”
While many agreed Universal’s dress code could be a bit too strict at times, most TikTokers said Suellen’s shirt was inappropriate for the event.
While Universal’s policies don’t specifically include clothing with offensive language, it should be expected that security would view any clothing with expletive words as inappropriate.
“[Security] told us they couldn’t allow us in with anything that had offensive language on it,” Suellen said. “Now, to me, I think of offensive language as a little bit more than a word that [people] can say on network television.”
“Sadly, I think security was right,” one person commented on her video. “They wouldn’t let you in with it during the day, so [they] need to stay consistent at HHN too. I think it’s fine, but I get their reasoning.”
Suellen additionally shared how after she and her friends had their shirts confiscated, she noted various individuals inside the event wearing far more inappropriate clothing.
“I’d be more forgiving of the whole thing had I not seen a shirt with the F word, one that talked about “my fat [expletive]” and someone that was literally exposing her [privates] (I’m not joking),” she replied to the commenter.
While Suellen made a valid point, as the word she and her friends chose is undoubtedly the least offensive expletive, it is still considered offensive language in what is meant to be a family-friendly environment.
Likely, the other individuals she spotted who were not dress-coded upon entering the park slipped through security.
Francesca Duarte is a writer on YourTango’s news and entertainment team based in Orlando, FL. She covers lifestyle, human-interest, adventure, and spirituality topics.
