We sincerely apologise for the offence and distress this has caused. “A full and thorough investigation into how this incident happened has been launched and stringent action will be taken. “The contractor had commissioned characters to support the start of the Summer Reading Challenge, but the costume in question was wholly inappropriate for the intended audience In a statement issued to the Evening Standard, Redbridge council said: “We are utterly appalled by the unacceptable event at Redbridge Libraries on Saturday organised by our independent leisure contractor, Vision. Though some people couldn’t believe the monkey’s costume was news to the council given a previous promotional post on social media: The monkey costume has also been retired.” Although the monkey was well-received at carnival events with a mixed audience, it was entirely unsuitable for a children’s event and should never have been used. “In the future, we will hold ourselves to a higher standard when determining the suitability of a costume. Our lack of judgement in the choice of costume is one we deeply regret, having profoundly undermined our relationship with partners and the public. They said: “Over nineteen years we have positively collaborated with local residents and public bodies to deliver colourful and celebratory characters and in this case, we undoubtedly got it wrong. On a blog posted to their website, Mandinga Arts - the troupe behind the costume - said that the costume had been “retired”. The footage shared online showed members of the Mandiga Arts Group at the Redbridge Libraries Summer Reading Challenge event at Goodmayes library. Local Labour MP Wes Streeting asked how “anyone involved – including your staff – thought that a costume described by one national journalist – with depressing accuracy – as a ‘Rainbow Dildo Butt Monkey’ was appropriate for family audiences around our libraries and public realm, let alone a festival aimed at promoting literacy amongst children.” The actor represented this year’s theme -wild world heroes - and was joined by someone dressed as a strawberry and another dressed as a frog in a promotional video circulated on social media. Goodmayes Library in Redbridge, East London ruined everything by inviting an actor in a rainbow monkey costume with a fake penis and bare bum to the launch event, and created an absolute s**t storm. Such a character did actually appear at a Redbridge Libraries Summer Reading Challenge event at Goodmayes Library in east London in (once) Great Britain.
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