Martha Stewart Says She Is Distressed by Backlash to Her Homeless Halloween Costume. The Poor Are Not a Costume.

The facts come first below. My opinion follows in the section marked as opinion.

Martha Stewart said Sunday she was "distressed" that her Halloween costume, which depicted a "hungry" homeless person, had caused offense. Stewart shared a photo of herself in tattered clothing, holding a clipboard that read, "I AM HUNGRY HELP ME!!" She posed with a tired expression and makeup meant to look like dirt on her face, NBC News reported.

The photo was the third slide in an Instagram carousel promoting her candle collection on QVC. "My QVC candles are perfect for Halloween!!!" she wrote in the caption. The post was removed shortly afterward, but the costume and the backlash continued to circulate online. Many interpreted the costume as mocking the poor, and some called it "out of touch" and "dystopian," according to NBC News.

The photo showed her standing with two dogs outside a house. She was back on Instagram Sunday morning with a post about saffron, Rolling Stone reported.

What Stewart said

"I am distressed that my Halloween costume yesterday, which was intended to bring more awareness to the very serious subject of homelessness, has offended people, which was never my intention," Stewart said in a statement to NBC News. She added that homelessness "continues to remain one of America's greatest challenges and ongoing crises, something that I care deeply about and I have spent a significant amount of time and effort supporting charities that combat this ongoing social epidemic." "I am committed to continuing to make a difference," she said, NBC News reported.

Stewart gave the same statement to Page Six. In the days before the holiday, she appeared on "Today" to share Halloween entertaining ideas. "I always enjoy getting dressed up in fun and creative costumes when my busy schedule allows," she wrote on social media, Variety reported.

The people behind the costume

The problem Stewart said she meant to highlight is large. The Department of Housing and Urban Development's latest national count found 745,652 people were homeless on a single night in January 2025, including 266,320 people living on the street. That was a 3% decrease from 2024 but a 27% increase since 2013, HUD said.

HUD Secretary Scott Turner said, "The data is clear that the status quo of 'housing first' has failed to meaningfully reduce homelessness, resulting in crisis levels of people living on the streets." He said HUD is "restoring its programs to advance recovery and self-sufficiency," according to the department.

Dock Line looked at another story about fame and its costs in Netflix's Matthew Perry Docuseries and His Prayer for Fame.

Opinion: The poor are not a costume

Martha Stewart has given the country a lot of good things: recipes, gardens, and a love of making a home beautiful. She also says she has supported charities that fight homelessness, and there is no reason to doubt her. I do not believe she set out to mock anyone.

But intentions do not change what the picture showed. A wealthy woman dressed up as a starving person, posed with her dogs outside a house and slipped the photo into an ad for candles. That is not awareness. It is a costume made out of someone else's worst night, used to sell a product.

Scripture is plain about this: "Whoso mocketh the poor reproacheth his Maker: and he that is glad at calamities shall not be unpunished." The man holding a cardboard sign on the corner was made in the image of God. His hunger is real. His cold is real. He cannot take the costume off when the party ends.

Her statement also did not include a plain apology. Saying "I am sorry" is one of the most freeing things a person can do, and it costs nothing. People offended by the photo do not need to hear about her intentions. They need to hear that she understands why it hurt.

There is a lesson for the rest of us, too. It is easy to pile on a celebrity from behind a screen. It is harder to do something for the poor in our own towns. If this story stirs anyone, let it stir them to serve a meal at a shelter, give to a church food pantry or learn the name of the man on the corner. That would be a better answer to a bad costume than one more angry post.