Knott's Scary Farm shirt appears to show racist caricature
A T-shirt promoting one of Knott's Scary Farm's new mazes appears to include a racist image. Did Knott's create the image? Or is this another example of sloppy generative artificial intelligence? Either way, it's certainly put a damper on the more intriguing of the two new mazes announced for 2026's edition of the long-running Halloween event.
The shirt in question features a poster highlighting different cartoon creations from the fictitious "Morbid Studios." This is how Knott's Berry Farm describes the maze on its website:
Mortimer Morbid, a washed-up 1930s cartoonist and former head of Morbid Studios, discovers that when blood becomes ink, imagination becomes reality. Determined to create one final Halloween special, he brings his infamous cartoon characters to life—only to unleash a legion of murderous toons hellbent on pulling viewers into their twisted world.
One character caught the eyes of the unofficial Knott's Scary Farm community on Reddit. The character, called "Manic," certainly looks a lot like a Sambo caricature. This is how the Jim Crow Museum defines Sambo:
One of the most enduring stereotypes in American history is that of the Sambo (Boskin, 1986). This pervasive image of a simple-minded, docile black man dates back at least as far as the colonization of America. The Sambo stereotype flourished during the reign of slavery in the United States. In fact, the notion of the "happy slave" is the core of the Sambo caricature. White slave owners molded African-American males, as a whole, into this image of a jolly, overgrown child who was happy to serve his master. However, the Sambo was seen as naturally lazy and therefore reliant upon his master for direction.
The "Manic" character resembles the titular character in Ub Iwerks' 1935 film Little Black Sambo. There are many examples of this racist caricature in cartoons from the era the Inked maze is parodying. That makes it plausible generative AI was prompted with something like, "1930s cartoons," leading to the image appearing on the haunted house T-shirt.
I reached out to Knott's Berry Farm for comment on several items related to this story. First, I asked whether the key art used to promote the mazes was produced by generative AI. A Knott's Berry Farm spokesperson said, "the logos and artwork created for the two new mazes are not AI-generated, they were created by our in-house creative team. We will have a social video coming out soon that provides a peek behind the scenes."
I asked whether generative AI has been used to create T-shirt designs and I also asked the following: "This shirt has been alleged to be both generated with artificial intelligence and to feature a racist caricature. Can you comment on what the process was for designing this shirt and how the 'Manic' character came to be created?
"And lastly, can you comment on if or how generative AI is used at Knott's Scary Farm?"
The Knott's Berry Farm spokesperson responded, "I cannot confirm whether there was AI assistance used for the creative used on merchandise. That is handled by a corporate team."
That is decidedly not a no. The spokesperson did not respond to the assertion that the T-shirt features a racist caricature nor did the spokesperson comment on if, or how, generative artificial intelligence is used at Knott's Scary Farm. They also did not provide contact information for the corporate team responsible for the T-shirt.
I followed up by asking whether or not the theme park plans on selling the Inked T-shirt at Knott's Scary Farm this year, if the park has any comment on the "Manic" character and if I could be put in contact with the corporate team that can comment on the design.
I have not heard back.
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Several people on Instagram and Threads caught this weeks ago. I'm glad the press is handling it, and maybe it will lead to substantive changes at Knott's and Six Flags. This is what happens with AI when the humans aren't paying attention! (Side note: that shirt also just looks terrible, and I hope it's finally off the shelves).
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I'm not surprised a park's spokesperson would not confirm (or deny) the use of AI on merch, because that cat is definitely out of the bag. Six Flags has been clearly using AI on merch since the merger was completed, and long time fans have been pointing this out with regularity over the past 2 years (United Parks are guilty too). Over half of the coaster shirts on racks right now have telltale signs of AI use (and share characteristics and stylistic elements with shirts from other parks in the chain), yet oblivious guests buy them anyway, emboldening the chain's continued use of the technology. However, when it comes to individual park events, I would hope that they have their own in-house design teams that would not be as reliant on AI utilized at the corporate level to distribute designs across the entire chain.
FWIW, this wouldn't be the first accusation of racist imagery this Halloween season with Target catching massive flack for a new children's costume that portrays the wearer with black face in a minstrel outfit.