Actress Jessica Alba deletes pictures after being slammed over ‘nasty’ Halloween costume

Jessica Alba deleted an Instagram post showing her dressed as Nancy Kerrigan for Halloween after social media users criticised her for recreating the attack on the American figure skater weeks before the 1994 Winter Olympics.

Alba wore a white lace skating dress and a bandage made to look bloodied around one knee. Her friend Kelly Sawyer posed with a baseball bat in a costume referencing Kerrigan’s skating rival, Tonya Harding. Alba captioned the photos: “Happy Halloween from Tonya … and Nancy.”

The costumes referred to the 1994 attack on Kerrigan, who was struck on the knee with a police baton after a practice session at the US Figure Skating Championships. The attack was intended to derail her chances of competing at the Olympics.

Shane Stant carried out the assault after being hired by Harding’s former husband, Jeff Gillooly, and his childhood friend Shawn Eckardt. Harding denied involvement in planning the attack but pleaded guilty to conspiring to hinder the prosecution. She received probation and was banned for life by the US Figure Skating Association. She has recently spoken publicly about wanting to return to the sport.

According to Page Six, one commenter wrote, “We expect better, Jessica,” while another called the costume “immature”. A separate commenter questioned why Alba and Sawyer had chosen to revisit a traumatic event and accused them of “making a Halloween costume out of a victim of an attack”. Alba removed the Instagram post after the criticism, though images remained visible on Threads.

Some users defended Alba. One pointed to the films and television productions that have revisited the incident over the past three decades, writing: “Seems like a pretty tame joke at this point.”

Others drew comparisons with Martha Stewart, who apologised after facing criticism over a costume that some viewers interpreted as a caricature of a person experiencing homelessness. The two costumes drew debate over the weekend as celebrities shared their Halloween outfits online.