What happened at the Wisconsin State Fair? Cow controversy explained

May 2024 · 4 minute read

The Wisconsin State Fair is famous for its rides, delicious food, and drinks. However, a recent controversy emerged when a cow, who is named after a slur, was presented with an award at the ceremonies. American citizens were outraged by this.

The family exhibitor, Tianda Hildebrant, and the State Fair have since apologized to the black community, as per the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

The cow's name was changed after the Wisconsin State Fair controversy

The Wisconsin State Fair began on August 3 and will continue until August 13. On August 5, 2023, a post was shared on the Fair's Twitter account, showing the aforementioned cow winning in the Top Senior 3-year-old category.

A man from Pewaukee named David Blake was casually walking by the 172nd Wisconsin State Fair with his friends and family. He noticed a peculiar name of a participating cow, after which he took a picture and posted it online, according to WISN.

"It's one of those words, one of those few words that should be totally off-limits. I mean, there's a big one that we all know, and I think it's on the same level,"

He continued by calling out the state fair and saying:

"Disgusting, and definitely not something people should be using. And shame on the State Fair. I'd assume there'd be policies in place where they kind of look at the names and everything, why this was allowed to get through."

A community activist named Vaun Mayes posted about the incident on Friday, August 11, and it ignited public outrage online.

The cow's name has since been changed to 'Puzzle,' and people are considering it as an admission of guilt, according to WISN. The Wisconsin State Fair also removed the exhibitor Tianda Hildebrant from the list of competitors.

The Hilderbrant family apologized to the black community on Friday evening and said:

"We now recognize that the use of this word is unacceptable and harmful. Immediately upon learning the meaning of this term, we changed the cow’s name. We are committed to educating ourselves further.”

Wisconsin State Fair's response to the controversy

In response to the backlash, Wisconsin State Fair's spokesperson, Tess Kerkson issued an official statement and said:

"We do not tolerate or condone this behavior and took swift and deliberate action to rectify this situation. The animal has been removed from State Fair Park. The exhibitor who showed this animal was part of our junior show and is also no longer at State Fair Park."

Mayes questioned the credibility of the fair's review board and said:

“I feel like that shouldn't have gotten past State Fair to allow that."

Kerkson explained to the public that the Wisconsin State Fair plans to review the entry process so that such a situation doesn't occur in the future.

Quick Links

More from Sportskeeda

" modalPopup.closeOnEsc = false; modalPopup.setHeader("Why did you not like this content?"); modalPopup.setContentText(modalText); modalPopup.addCancelOkButton("Submit", resetRatingAndFeedbackForm, sendRating); modalPopup.removeCloseModalIcon(); modalPopup.disableDismissPopup(); modalPopup.open(); } else { sendRating(index); } } function sendRating() { var requestPayload = { "post_id": 1625931, "rating_value": ratingValue } if (ratingValue > 3) { requestPayload.rating_feedback_type = null; requestPayload.rating_feedback = null; } else { if (!$('input[name="drone"]:checked') || !$('input[name="drone"]:checked').value) { showErrorMessage('option'); return; } if (!$(".post-rating-feedback-note textarea") || !$(".post-rating-feedback-note textarea").value) { showErrorMessage('note'); return; } var selectedOption = $('input[name="drone"]:checked').value; var feedbackNote = $(".post-rating-feedback-note textarea").value; requestPayload.rating_feedback_type = selectedOption; requestPayload.rating_feedback = feedbackNote; } pureJSAjaxPost(addratingAPI, requestPayload, onsaveRatingSuccess, onsaveRatingFail, function() {}, true); } function resetRatingAndFeedbackForm() { var activeStars = Array.from($all('.rating span.rating-star.active')); for (var i=0; i < activeStars.length; i++) { activeStars[i].classList.remove("active"); } if ($('input[name="drone"]:checked')) { $('input[name="drone"]:checked').checked = false; } var userNote = document.querySelector(".post-rating-feedback-note textarea"); userNote.value = ''; modalPopup.close(); } function onsaveRatingSuccess() { modalPopup.close(); savePostIdInUserRatedPostsCookie(); $("#post-rating-layout").classList.add("hidden"); $("#post-rating-message").classList.remove("hidden"); window.setInterval(function showMessage() { $("#post-rating-widget").classList.add("hidden"); }, 3000); } function onsaveRatingFail() { console.error('Saving post rating failed!'); modalPopup.close(); } function savePostIdInUserRatedPostsCookie() { userRatedPostIds.push(1625931); var expiryTime = new Date(); expiryTime.setMonth(expiryTime.getMonth() + 12); // Expiry after 1 year setCookie("user_rated_post_ids", JSON.stringify(userRatedPostIds), expiryTime); } function isPostRatedByUser() { var userRatedPostIds = getCookie('user_rated_post_ids'); if (userRatedPostIds) { try { userRatedPostIds = JSON.parse(userRatedPostIds); } catch (err) { console.error(err); return false; } } else { return false; } if(userRatedPostIds.indexOf(1625931) >= 0) { return true; } else { return false; } } function getRatingCountByPostId(postId) { return new Promise(function(resolve, reject) { pureJSAjaxGet( getRatingCountBaseURL + postId + '/rating/count', function(data) { try { data = JSON.parse(data); if (data.meta_value) { resolve(data.meta_value); } reject("Failed to fetch rating count for the post:" + postId); } catch (err) { reject("Failed to fetch rating count for the post:" + postId); } }, function(err) { reject("Failed to fetch rating count for the post:" + postId); }, true); }); } function showErrorMessage(messageType) { var messageContainerId = '#' + messageType + '-error'; $(messageContainerId).classList.remove('hidden'); window.setInterval(function () { $(messageContainerId).classList.add("hidden"); }, 5000); } (function() { var callFired = false; function lazyLoadPostRating() { if (callFired) return; callFired = true; if (!isPostRatedByUser()) { getRatingCountByPostId(1625931) .then(function(ratingCount) { if (ratingCount < 10) { $("#post-rating-widget").classList.remove("hidden"); } }) .catch(function(err){ console.error(err); }); } } document.addEventListener("scroll", lazyLoadPostRating, { passive: true, once: true }); document.addEventListener("mousemove", lazyLoadPostRating, { passive: true, once: true }); document.addEventListener("touchmove", lazyLoadPostRating, { passive: true, once: true }); })();

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tLzOq6uso5WasaJ6wqikaKifpXqkwcutrKudX6y1osCMo6CgmZKkvG65xJqlZq%2BZqLCwutKipWarpJbBpnnFmqCrZaKWsKqty2aqpa2iYrCww4ycpqesoqTDpr7SsmSesKChrqq6xJ0%3D