Minnesota Halloween Theme Park Told Employees to Refuse Service to Somalis, Then Loses Contract to Operate

A Halloween theme park has been shut down in Minnesota over an internal note targeting Somali customers.

Carver County Sheriff Jim Olson, County Attorney Mark Metz, and County Administrator David Hemze announced in a statement on Thursday that they have terminated their contract with Scream Park owner Matt Dunn in Chaska, Minnesota, over screenshots on a private Facebook group to employees that targeted Somali customers from coming to the theme park.

"We hold equal treatment of all people among our highest principles," County Administrator Hemze said. "Mr. Dunn's comments discriminated against one group based on their national origin. There is no ambiguity to Mr. Dunn's comments. Mr. Dunn encouraged his employees to racially profile a targeted group and his comments are completely unacceptable. They do not comply with County policy, and they breached our contract with him."

The internal note sent to staff members noted that the park allows to refuse service to anyone, and said that the park has "a zero tolerance with Somalis," according to the release.

"Important! The following sign has been added to the ticket booth. In addition, other signs are being added to encourage guests to call in and report any guest issues while waiting in line. Note that we are having a zero tolerance policy with Somalis. (Other guests, you make your best judgement call) But absolutely zero tolerance with Somalis," the post read.

The private Facebook post sparked outrage in the community. The Council of American-Islamic Relations released a statement following the incident and called for the Minnesota Department of Human Rights to investigate the theme park's business policies.

"We urge the Minnesota Department of Human Rights to investigate the clear violation of the Minnesota Human Rights Act by this discriminatory business policy targeting an ethnic and religious minority," CAIR Minnesota Executive Director Jaylani Hussein said in a statement on Tuesday.

Dunn wrote a public apology on the Scream Town's theme park Facebook page, claiming that the park's top priority is the safety of their customers. He also noted that the internal note to staff members "seemed to generalize."

"Scream Town welcomes ALL people to our event. We love our guests and we love our fans. Safety and security for our actors and guests is our top priority. We apologize for any posts that were generalizing. That was not our intent," the Facebook post read. "We had an incident with a select group of about 8-10 individuals last Saturday night that had been at our event earlier this year. They were removed from the event due to their actions. Our post was regarding these 8-10 people who were disrupting other guests and staff. We are deeply sorry how the message was written. We love our Somali customers. They have been longtime fans of our show. All are welcome and we thank you for your business."

A similar incident occurred earlier this month after an Alabama man apologized on October 7, for his Halloween decoration in front of his home that was labeled "racist" in the community. The decor, which was in the front yard of his house, was what appeared to be a black man hanging from a tree by a noose. Marc Wolfe told WBRC that he has taken down the decoration.

"We put it out so people can walk up and say it's scary or get scared by a jumping spider," Wolfe told the news station. "You know, if you're having fun, you're not hurting anybody."