Racy photoshoot leads to night of free carnival rides in Alabama, officials say
Officials in Clay, Alabama, are apologizing amid outrage over a racy photo shoot that took place at a family-friendly carnival.
Clay Mayor Charles Webster and City Manager Ronnie Dixon said they stopped the shoot at the C&M Southern Midways carnival on Wednesday after receiving several complaints, according to a message posted on the city’s Facebook page.
Photos posted online showed several lingerie-clad women posing suggestively on the carnival rides, WIAT reported. Some of the photos even appeared in the “What’s Happening in Clay” Facebook group, but have since been removed.
“C&M Midways apologizes for the events that took place last night at the carnival,” officials said Thursday. “They were misled by the production company as to what type of photo shoot would be occurring on the premises. Mayor Webster and City Manager, Ronnie Dixon shut down the event as soon as they were notified as to what was occurring.”
The third-party company had rented the site for its photo shoot the night before the carnival was set to open, the Trussville Tribune reported.
Carnival organizers said they always strive for “a fun, family friendly event” and offered the community a night of free rides to make up for what they said was “truly a mistake.”
“Again, they apologize to anyone who may have been offended by the unfortunate event,” city officials said.
McClatchy News reached out to C&M Southern Midways for comment and is awaiting response.
The carnival remains open through Saturday.
This story was originally published August 28, 2020 at 1:54 PM.